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HISTORY  OF  INDIA. 


Jfrom  l^e  Earliest  S^tmts  to  i\t  ^rtsfnt  gaj. 


L.  J.  TROTTER, 

Author  of  '^Studies  tn  Biography"  *' ^  Sequel  to  Thornton's   HUtory 
of  India"  ^c. 


riTBLISHLD  CNDEH  THE  DIRErTTOS  OF 

THE  C05IMITTEE  OF  GENERAL  LITERATURE  AND   EnCATION, 

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PREFACE. 


The  following  pages  were  written  at  the  request  of 
the  Society  whose  name  appears  on  the  title  page. 
Within  the  space  allowed  him  the  Author  has  done 
his  best  to  give  such  an  outline  of  Indian  history  as 
might  serve  to  interest  that  large  class  of  readers 
which  lacks  time,  means,  or  will,  for  the  study  of 
larger  works  on  the  same  theme.  In  beginning,  as  it 
were,  from  the  very  outset,  he  has  sought  to  fix  the 
reader's  attention  to  the  successive  stages  leading 
from  the  first  Aryap  settlements  in  India,  up  to  the 
final  conquest  of  the  whole  country  by  another  people 
of  Aryan  race.  It  is  weU  for  many  reasons  that 
Englishmen  should  understand  how  much  the  nations 
of  the  West  have  in  common  with  the  dark-skinned 
children  of  their  common  forefathers.  Nor  is  the 
wondrous  tale  of  English  conquests  in  India  a  thing 
to  be  studied  apart  from  its  connection  with  the 
previous  conquests  of  the  Mohammadans.  and  the 
great  fight  for  empire  between  the  countrymen  of 
Sivaji  and  the  Moghals. 


IV  HISTORY    OP    IKDIA. 

In  tracing,  however  rapidly,  the  history  of  so  many 
centuries,  the  Author  has  availed  himself  of  all  the 
latest  sources  of  information,  many  of  which  are 
pointed  out  in  the  footnotes.  In  no  part  of  the  book 
has  he  been  content  to  follow  slavishly  in  the  wake  of 
former  historians  and  essayists.  His  treatment  of 
Warren  Hastings,  for  example,  and  his  friend  Sir 
Ehjah  Inipey,  however  different  from  the  picture 
drawn  by  Macaulay,  is  amply  wan-anted  by  a  careful 
study  of  documents  which  that  gi-eat  writer  misread 
or  overlooked.  Throughout  the  volume  he  has  striven 
to  combine  accuracy  of  fit  detail  with  due  breadth  of 
handling  and  a  clear,  readable  style;  to  give  due 
prominence  to  leading  events  and  characters,  and  to 
avoid  the  faults  of  a  mere  partisan.  How  far  he  has 
succeeded  in  any  of  these  aims,  the  more  critical  of 
his  readers  must  be  left  to  judge  for  themselves, 
remembering  only  to  make  fair  allowance  for  the  mis- 
takes which  they  are  almosi  certain  to  find  here  and 
there  in  a  work  that  deals  with  so  many  centuries  of 
stirring  life. 

Of  the  illustrations  contributed  by  Mr.  W.  J. 
\Miymper,  the  Author  trusts  that  his  readers  will 
endorse  the  good  opinion  formed  by  himself.  They 
have  all  been  carefully  copied  from  truthful  photo- 
giaphs,  for  the  loan  of  many  of  which  the  artist  was 
indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Dr.  Forbes  Watson  at  the 
India  Oflice.  The  map  which  accompanies  the  volume 
has  been  compiled  expressly  for  it  by  Messrs.  Stanford. 

With   regard   to    the    vexed  question    of  spelling 


Indian  names,  the  Author  has  mainly  followed  the 
scientific  system  of  Jones,  Wilson,  and  Dr.  Hunter  ; 
a  system  already  at  work  in  many  branches  of  the 
Indian  pubUc  service,  and  which  must  in  time  super- 
sede the  rough,  haphazard  methods  of  spelling  words 
according  to  their  nearest  English  sounds.  The  new 
plan,  which  has  not  indeed  been  applied  to  such  old 
familiar  names  as  Calcutta,  Cawnpore,  Bombay,  has 
at  least  the  merit  of  uniformity  ;  while  it  does  repre- 
sent, as  exactly  as  one  alphabet  can  represent  another, 
the  very  sounds  and  letters  of  the  Hindustani  words. 
It  will  be  seen  from  the  following  simple  rules  how 
many  of  the  Indian  vowel  and  consonant  sounds 
correspond  with  those  in  our  own  and  other  Teutonic 
tongues. 

Vowels — a   broad   as    in    "father":    a   short    as   in 

"America,"    or   u   in    "butter,"   or  o  in 

"  son." 
e  as  in  "  thei'e,"  or  as  o  in  "  pate,"  or  c  in 

"beU." 
i  long  as  in  "pique"  or  "machine":  i  short 

as  in  "  bit." 
6  long    as   in    "  tone,"    or    shorter    as    in 

"  obey." 
ii  long  as  in  "mde"  or  oo  in  "  fool  ':  u  short 

full,"  "put." 
ai  as    in    German    "  Kaiser,"    or    EngUsh 

"  aisle." 
au   as    in    German    "  haus,"    or  the   on-  in 

EngUsh  "  cow." 


VI  UIHTOKY    OK    INPIA. 

Consonants — g  always  hard,  as  in  "give." 

s  hard,  as  in  "  sin." 

ch  always  as  in  "  church,"  "  chin." 

gh  and  kh  guttural,  as  in  Irish  "  Lough," 
and  Scot  "loch,"  or  English  "  log- 
hut "  and  "  inkhoru." 

th  and  ph  as  in  "  hot-houso  "  and  "  up- 
hill." 

y  always  as  in  "  yet,"  "  young." 

w  as  in  "  war." 

The  remaining  consonants  ai"e  sounded  as  in 
English,  save  that  n  final  is  sometimes  nasal,  as  in 
French  "  bon." 

Some  of  the  names  which  recur  oftenest  in  these 
pages,  such  as  Rajput,  Panjdb,  Khan,  GujanH,  are 
occasionally  printed  without  the  vowel  points. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

Geographical  sketch  of  India — Total  area  of  India — Its  length 
and  breadth— The  Himalayas — Eastern  and  Western  bound- 
aries— Length  of  seaboard  and  land-frontier — The  Him^ayan 
rivers — The  Vindhya  and  Satpura  Ranges — The  Aravalli  Hills 
— The  Ghats  or  Stairs  of  Southern  India — The  Nflgiris  or  Bine 
Mountains — Rivers  of  Southern  India — Harbours — Lakes — 
Desert  tracts — Traces  of  former  submergence — Volcanic  agency 
— The  forest  trees  of  India — Their  various  uses — The  crops — 
Fruits  and  vegetables — Flowers — Animals,  wild  and  tame — 
Indian  birds — Minerals — Precious  stones — Gold  and  stiver — 
Lead — Tin — Antimony  and  copper — Petroleum — Salt — Build- 
ing stones — Iron  ores — Coal — Population  of  India — Popu- 
lation of  Bengal — The  North-Western  Provinces — Audh — 
The  Panjab — British  Burmah — Madras — Maisdr  and  Knrg — 
Bombay  and  Sindh — Central  Provinces — Ber^r — The  Native 
States — Proportion  of  Hindus  to  Mussulmans —  Sikhs  and  Budd- 
hists— Aboriginal  races — Jains — P^rsis — Christians — Varieties 
of  climate — Rainfall — Hot  winds — The  cold  weather — Lan- 
guages of  India; — The  Aryan — The  Dravidian — The  Mongolic 
— Arabic  and  Persian  infusions xlv 


HlSTOr.V    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK   I. 

INDL\  BEFORE  THE  JIOHAMilADAN  CONQUESJ. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE    ARYAN    HINDUS. 


Peculiar  character  of  British  rule  in  India — The  Hindu  Vedas — 
Poetic  origin  of  the  Hindu  religion — Later  developtaents  of 
the  old  faith— Rise  of  Buddhism — Siikya  Muni,  born  about 
GOO  B.C. — His  career  as  a  Hindu  reformer — Buddhist  doctrine 
— Progress  of  Buddhism — Its  later  developments — Its  decline 
in  India — The  Brahmanic  reaction — The  code  of  Manu,  about 
900  B.C. — Indian  village  communities — Caste  in  India — The 
Brahmans — Their  exclusive  privileges — The  Kshatriyas — The 
Taisyas — The  Sudras — Later  development  of  caste — Caste 
tendencies  in  other  countries 


CHAPTER  II. 

BRAH5IANISM    RE- ASCENDENT. 

The  Purdnas,  about  900  A.D. — Vishnu  and  his  Avatars — Vishnu  as 
Rama  and  Krishna — Worship  of  Siva — Worship  of  Durga  and 
other  gods — Later  Hindu  pects — Sankara  Acharya — Tukaram 
born  near  Piina  towards  the  end  of  sixteenth  century — Nanak 
Shah  born  A.D.  1469,  died  A.D.  1540— Giiru  Govind— The 
Brahma  Samaj  1^ 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  in. 

EARLY    HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

FirBt  Aiyan  settlement  in  India — Aryan  progress  southwards — 
Aryan  dynasties  in  Upper  India — The  great  war  of  Hindu 
legend — The  story  of  Rama — Unhistoric  character  of  the 
Ramayan — Aryan  kings  of  Southern  India — The  Sah  dynasty 
in  Sauia?htra — The  Giipta  princes — Vikram  Aditya,  about  B.C. 
66 — Kalidasa.  about  50  B.C. — The  Dravidian  races — Successive 
invasions  of  Kashmir — Eastern  Bengal — The  Tavans — Ob- 
Bcurity  of  old  Indian  history — The  legend  of  Semiramis — 
Eamses  II. — Invasion  of  Western  India  by  Darius  Hystaspes, 
about  ."120  B.C. — Alexander  the  Great  invades  the  Panjab,  B.C. 
327 — His  arrival  at  the  Indus — His  alliance  with  Taxiles — 
Defeat  of  Poms  on  the  Jhilam — Alexander's  further  progress 
— His  return  from  the  Satlaj — His  voyage  down  the  Indus — 
His  return  to  Susa — Alexander's  death,  B.C.  323 — Results  of 
Alexander's  enterprise — King  Chandragiipta  founds  the  Mau- 
ryan  dynasty — His  treaty  with  Seleucus,  305  B.C. — King 
Asoka's  beneficent  reign,  280  B.C. — His  conversion  to  Budd- 
hism— The  Sanga  dynasty,  195  B.C. — The  Andhra  dynasty, 
about  100  B.C. — Embassies  from  India  to  CiEsar  Augustus — 
The  first  Christian  mission  to  Southern  India — Progress  of  the 
native  Christians — A  Christian  Rajah  in  Malabar — Temporary 
triumph  of  Archbishop  Menezes  over  the  Syrian  Christians — 
The  Bactrian  kingdom — Demetrius,  B.C.  190 — Eucratides,  B.C. 
181 — Henander,  B.C.  126 — Testimony  of  Indo-Bactrian  coins. 


CHAPTER  rv. 

CITLLISATION    OF    ABYAN    INDIA. 

Intellectual  and  moral  progress  of  the  Hindus — Hindu  astronomy 
— Aryabhata,  about  500  A.D. — Bhaskai'-acharya,  about  115  A.D. 
— Hindu  algebra  and  arithmetic — Hindu  medicine  and  che- 
mistry— Hindu  law — Grammar — Hindu  literature — Absence 
of  the  historic  spirit — Sculpture  and  architecture — Water- 
works in  Southern  India — Indian  steel — The  city  of  Ayodhya 
as  described  by  Talmiki 35 


HI8T0EY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK  II. 

THE  MOHAMMADAN  PERIOD. 


CHAPTER  I.  V 

EARLY    MOHAMMADAN    CONQUESTS. 

Persian  invasion  of  Snrat,  a.d.  560 — First  invasion  of  Sindh, 
A.D.  664 — Invasion  of  Sindh  by  Mohammad  E^im,  A.D.  711 
— Death  of  the  Rajah  and  his  Qneen — Kdsim  invades  Gujarat 
— Defeated  by  the  Raj  puts  of  Chitdr  and  driven  out  of  TTestem 
India — Mahmud  of  Khorfsan  driven  back  by  the  Rajah  of 
Chit<5r,  A.D.  812 — The  Samanid  dynasty  of  Bokhara,  A.D.  913 
— Alptagin  founds  the  kingdom  of  Ghazni,  about  A.D.  962 — 
Succeeded  by  Sabaktagin,  A.D.  976 — Sabaktagin  grants  terms 
to  the  King  of  Lahdr— Jaipal  breaks  his  pledge — Rout  of  his 
army  at  Laghman — Mahmud  ot  Ghazni,  a.d.  997 — Defeat  and 
death  of  Jaipal,  A.D.  1001 — Anandpal  succeeds  him — Bhatm'r 
conquered,  A.D.  1003 — Multdn  reconquered,  A.D.  1005 — Great 
defeat  of  the  Hindus  near  Peshawar,  A.D.  1008 — Thane'sar  plun- 
dered, A.D.  1011— Sack  of  Mattra,  A.D.  1017 — Sack  of  Lahdr, 
A.D.  1021— Capture  of  Somndth,  A.D.  1024 — Revolt  of  the 
Hindu  princes,  A.D.  1043 — The  Ghaznavid  princes  driven  out 
of  Kibul.  A.D.  1156 — Capture  of  Lahdr  by  Mohammad  Ghori, 
A.D.  1186 — Defeat  of  Mohammad,  A.D.  1191 — Mohammad's 
revenge,  A.D.  1193 — First  fruits  of  Mohammad's  victory — Con- 
quest of  Kanauj  and  Banuras,  A.D.  1194 — Rhator  emigration 
to  Marwar — Conquest  of  Bahar  and  Bengal  by  Kutab-ud-din, 
A.D.  1203 — Gaur  the  seat  of  Mohammadan  rule  in  Bengal — 
Mobammadan  architecture  in  India — Altamsh,  A.D.  1210 — 
Conquest  of  Malwa,  A.D.  1226 — Chingiz  Khan  invades  Kha- 
rizm  and  Kabul,  A.D.  1217 — Rizia  Begam,  A  D.  1236 — Xazir- 
nd-din  Mahmud,  A.D.  1246  to  1266 — Ghiyas-ud-din  Balban,  a.d. 
1266  to  1286— Revolt  in  Bengal,  1279 43 


CONTENTS.  XI 

CHAPTER  11. 

THE    KHIUI    DYNASTY    OF    DEHLI,    A.D.    1288-1321. 

.Talal-ud-din  Khilji  founds  a  new  dynasty,  A.D.  1288 — First  invasion 
of  the  Dakhan,  A.D.  1294 — Death  of  Jalal-nd-din,  A.D.  1295— 
Ala-ud-din,  a.d.  1296 — Gujarft  reconquered,  1297— Moghal 
invasion,  A.D.  1298 — Second  Moghal  inroad,  A.D.  1303 — Fresh 
inroads  and  utter  rout  of  the  Moghals,  A.D.  1306 — Deogarh 
again  reduced  to  submission,  A.D.  1306 — Eafiir  invades  Wa- 
rangiil,  A.D.  1309 — The  Eajah  of  'Warangul  surrenders  his 
chief  stronghold — Invasion  of  the  Camatic,  A.D.  1310 — The 
Dakhan  again  invaded,  A.D.  1312 — ifassacre  of  Moghal  con- 
verts— Character  and  public  acts  of  Ala-ud-din — Oppression  of 
the  nobles — Sufferings  of  the  Hindus — Interference  with  the 
markets — The  prosperous  outset  of  his  reign — A  change  for 
the  worse,  A.D.  1312  to  1316 — Plots  and  revolts — Chitdr  once 
more  free,  A.D.  1315— Death  of  Ala-ud-din,  A.D.  1316— Kafiir's 
successful  treachery— His  death,  January,  1317 — Kutab-nd-din. 
A.D.  1317 — Gujarat  and  Maharashtra  reconquered,  A.D.  1318 
— Khusru  invades  the  Camatic — Murder  of  Kutab-ud-din — 
Death  of  Khusru,  A.D.  1321    50 


CHAPTER  m. 

THE    TOGHLAK,    S.AIYID,    AND     LODI    DYNASTIES, 
A.D.    1321—1414. 

Ghiyas-ud-din-Toghlak  I.,  1321 — Character  of  his  government — Re- 
capture of  Warangul  and  conquest  of  Telingana,  A.D.  1323 — 
Toghlak's  march  into  Bengal,  1324 — His  death — Mohammad 
Toghlak,  A.D.  1325 — His  general  character — He  keeps  off  a 
Moghal  invasion— His  successes  in  Southern  India — His  futile 
scheme  for  conquering  Persia  about  1332 — Invasion  of  China, 
A.D.  1337,  and  utter  destruction  of  the  Sultan's  army — The 
king's  heavy  exactions — His  forced  copper  currency — Revolt 
of  Miiltan.  Bengal,  and  the  Dakhan — Cruel  slaughter  in  the 
Doab — Massacre  at  Kanauj — Risings  in  Labor  and  Malabar 
— Outbreak  of  cholera  at  Warangul — The  king's  retreat  to 
Deogarh — Forced  emigration  from  Dehli  to  Daulatabad,  A.D. 
1.340 — Its  ultimate  failure — 111  effects  of  Mohammad's  policy^ 
Rising  in  Gujarat,  A.D.  1346 — Revolt  in  Maharashtra,  A.D.  1347 
— Fresh  rising  in  Gujarat — Independent  Bahmani  dynasty  in 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

the  Bakb.'m,  A.D.  1348 — Mohammad  marches  into  Sindh — His 
death,  A.D.  1350 — State  of  the  empire  at  his  death — Death  of 
Mohammad,  1351 — Firoz  Shah  tries  to  recover  Bengal,  A.D. 
1353,  but  fails — His  expedition  into  Sindh — His  character  as 
a  ruler — His  treatment  of  the  Hindus — His  splendid  public 
works — Irrigation  works  in  Upper  India — Abdication  of  Firoz 
in  favour  of  his  son,  A.D.  1387 — Expulsion  of  N£zir-ud-din, 
1388 — Accession  of  Ghiyas-ud-din  and  death  of  Firoz  Shah, 
October,  1388 — Intestine  troubles  in  Dehli — Ghiyas-ud-din  re- 
stored, A.D.  1390— Mahmud  Toghlak,  A.D.  1394— Gujartit, 
Mdlwa,  Khande'sh,  and  Jannpiir  become  independent — Timur's 
invasion  of  Hindustan,  A.D.  1398 — Timur  massacres  his  pri- 
soners— Defeat  and  flight  of  Mahmud — Massacres  in  Dehli — 
Capture  of  Mirat — Timur  recrosses  the  Indus — Return  of 
Mahmud  to  Dehli,  A.D.  1400 — Death  of  Toghlak,  A.D.  1412— 
Khizr  Khan  founds  the  Saiyid  dynasty,  A.D.  1414 — Accession  of 
Mobarak,  A.D.  1421 — Saiyid  Mohammad,  1435 — Saiyid  Ala-ud- 
din,  1445 — House  of  Lodi  founded  by  Belol  Lodi,  A.D.  1450 — 
Belol's  character — Extent  of  his  kingdom — Jaunpur  recon- 
quered, A.D.  1478 — Sikandar  Lodi,  A.D.  1488 — Persecution  of 
Hindus — Ibrahim  Lodi,  A.D.  1516 — Daulat  Khan  Lodi  invites 
Babar  into  Hindustan — Bdbar's  early  history — He  becomes 
master  of  Kabul,  A.D.  1504 — Babar  invades  the  Panjab,  A.D. 
1519 — He  marches  into  Sirhind,  A.D.  1524 — Ala-ud-din  defeated 
by  Ibrahim,  1525^B^bar's  march  to  Panipat,  A.D.  1526 — 
Battle  of  Panipat — Eout  of  the  Dehli  troops  and  death  of 
Ibrahim,  21st  April,  1526    65 


CHAPTER  IV. 


CONTEMPORARY    INDIAN    DYNASTIES. 

Progress  of  Kashmir — Shams-ud-din,  first  Mohammadan  king  of 
Kashmir,  A.D.  1326— Shadi  Khan  or  Zain-ul-abidin,  A.D.  1422 
to  1472 — Mohammad,  1486  to  1535 — The  Panjab  governed  by 
Timur's  lieutenant,  Khizr  Khan,  A.D.  1400 — Reannexed  to  the 
kingdom  of  Dehli — Miiltdn — The  Langa  dynasty,  A.D.  1445 
— Sindh  under  the  Sume'ra  dyn.osty,  A.D.  750 — The  Jam 
dynasty,  A.D.  1225 — The  Arghiin  dynasty,  A.D.  1520 — History 
of  Gujanit— The  Chaura  dynasty,  A.D.  524— The  Salonka 
dynasty,  A.D.  93 1 — The  Waghila  dynasty,  1228 — Gujarat  finally 
conquered  by  Ala-ud-din  Khilji,  1297 — Mozaffar  Shah  founds 


CONTENTS.  XUl 

the  Mohammadan  kingdom  of  Gujarat,  1391 — Ahmad  Shah, 
1411 — Reduction  of  Katiawar — Mahmud  Shah,  1459  to  1511 
— Success  of  his  admiral,  Aiaz,  against  the  Portuguese,  1508 — 
Bahddur  Shah,  1527 — Conquest  of  Malwa,  1531 — Previous  his- 
tory of  Mdlwa — Hindu  kings  of  Malwa — Mohammadan  king- 
dom of  Malwa  founded  by  DiWwar  Khan  Ghori,  1401 — Siege 
of  Dehli  by  Mahmud  I. — Mahmud  II.,  1512 — Taken  prisoner 
by  the  Rajah  of  Chitor — Malwa  annexed  by  Bahadur  Shah, 
1531 — History  of  Khandesh — Malik,  Rajah  of  Ehandesh,  1370 
— Nasir  Khan,  1 399 — Capture  of  Asirgarh — Founding  of  Bur- 
hanpur — Adil  Khan,  1459 — Bengal  under  Fakr-ud-din,  and  his 
successes,  1338 — Rajah  Kh^ns,  1386 — Jit  Mai,  or  Jalal-ud-din, 
1392— Ala-ud-din,  1497 — Shir  Shah,  137— History  of  Rdjputana 
— The  Rajahs  of  Udaipur — Rahtor  emigration  to  Marwdr,  1195 
— Character  of  the  Rajputs — Nizam  Shah,  1461— Mohammad 
Shah,  1463 — Capture  of  Kanchi  and  conquest  of  the  Kankan — 
Death  of  Mahmud  Gawan,  1481 — Death  of  Mohammad  Shah, 
1482 — Dismemberment  of  the  Bahmani  State,  1489 — TuBuf 
Adil  Shah  established  in  Bijapur,  1489 — Ahmadnagar  founded 
by  Nizfim  Shah,  1489 — A  Brahman  made  prime  minister — 
Imdd  Shah  founds  adynastyin  Berar,  1484  to  1572 — TheKutab- 
Shahi  dynasty  of  Golkonda,  1512  to  1687 — Mohammad  Kuli, 
1580— The  Barid  Shahi  dynasty  of  Bidar,  1489  to  1656— Early 
history  of  Orissa — Yavan  settlements  in  Orissa,  B.C. — Spread 
of  Buddhism  in  Orissa  from  about  300  B.C. — The  last  Tavan 
dynasty,  A.D.  323  to  473 — The  Ke'sari  dynasty,  A.D.  473  to  1132 
— Orissa  first  invaded  by  the  Pathilns,  A.D.  1243 — Krishna 
Rayah,  1509 — Afghan  conquest  of  Orissa,  1567 — Orissa  con- 
quered by  Akbar,  1578 — Kingdom  of  Bijayanagar,  1347 — 
Krishna  Rayah,  1509  to  1524 — Mohammadan  league  against 
Bijayanagar,  1567 — Battle  of  Talikot  and  rout  of  the  Hindus 
— Downfall  of  Bijayanagar 80 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE    PORTUGUESE    IN    INDIA. 

Prince  Henry  of  Portugal  turns  his  thoughts  towai'ds  India,  A.D. 
1415 — Cape  of  Good  Hope  rounded  by  Diaz,  A.D.  1486 — Ta.soo 
da  Gama  anchors  off  Calicut,  1498 — Intrigues  of  the  Moors — 
Cabral  at  Calicut  and  Cochin — Juan  de  Nueva  defeats  the 
Zamorin's  fleet,  a.d.  1501 — Vasco  da  Gama's  second  expedi- 
tion, A.D.  1502 — Albuquerque  defeats  the  Zamorin,  A.P,  1503 


?  HISTORY    OK    INDIA, 

— Victories  of  Pacheco  and  Soarez,  a.d.  1503 — Defeat  of  the 
Portuguese  at  Chaul,  a.d.  1508 — Alfonso  Albuquerque,Viceroy 
of  Portuguese  India,  a.d.  1608  to  1515 — His  maritime  successes 
— His  supersession  and  death — Siqu^ra  retreats  from  Diu,  a.d. 
1521 — Goa  besieged  by  the  Mohammadans,  1522 — Destruction 
of  the  Gujarat  fleet,  1527 — The  Portuguese  again  defeated  be- 
fore Diu,  A.D.  1531 — A  Portuguese  settlement  at  Diu,  about 
A.D.  1534 — Siege  of  Diu  by  the  Turks  and  Egyptians,  a.d.  1537 
— Final  defeat  of  the  besiegers,  a.d.  1538 — Portuguese  India 
to  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century — Diu  twice  besieged  by 
Mahmud  Shah — Culmination  of  the  Portuguese  power — Suc- 
cessful defence  of  Goa,  a.d.  1570 — Unsuccessful  attacks  en 
Chaul  and  Ch^ — Appearance  of  the  Dutch  and  English  in  the 
Eastern  seas— Decline  of  the  Portuguese  power    92 


CONTENTS.  XV 


BOOK   III. 

THE  MOGHAL  DYNASTY  OF  BABAE. 


CHAPTER  I. 
bIbak  and  humXyun,  1526 — 1556. 

Progress  of  Babar,  a.d.  1526— Battle  of  Sikri,  and  defeat  of  Rana 
Sanga,  a.d.  1527 — Defeat  of  Mahmud  Lodi— Capture  of  Chan- 
de'ri  and  death  of  Medni  Rai,  A.D.  1528— Conquest  of  Audh  and 
Bahar,  1528  to  1529— Babar's  failing  health— His  death,  A.D. 
1530 — His  character — Humayun,  A.D.  1530 — Revolts  in  Bun- 
dalkhand,  Jaunpur,  and  Bahdr,  1630-32— The  King  of  Gujarat 
defeated  and  driven  to  Diu,  1533— Daring  capture  of  Ch^m- 
pane'r— Capture  of  Chunar,  A.D.  1538— Rout  of  Humayun's 
army  near  Baxir,  A.D.  June  1539 — Humayun  again  defeated 
at  Kanauj,  May,  1540— Shir  Shah  estabUshed  at  Dehli,  A.D. 
1540-45 — Flight  and  wanderings  of  Humayun — Shir  Shah's 
successes — Shir  Shah  succeeded  by  SeUm  Shah,  a.d.  1545 — 
Mohammad  Shah,  a.d.  1553 — Humayun  in  exile,  A.D.  1540 — 
Birth  of  Akbar,  A.D.  1542— Humayun  finds  shelter  in  Herat, 
1544 — Humayun  reconquers  Kabul,  A.D.  1545-47 — Humayun  at 
length  established  in  Kabul,  A.D.  1551 — Kamran  taken  and 
blinded,  A.D.  1553 — Humayun's  return  to  Dehli,  A.D.  1555 — 
Hisdeath,  A.D.  1556 99 


CHAPTER  n. 

JALAL-UD-DIN    AKBAR,    1556  — 1605. 

Accession  of  Akbar,  A.D.  1556 — Battle  of  Panipat,  A.D.  1556,  and 
death  of  He'mu — Behram's  government  of  Dehli,  A.D.  1556-59 — 
Behram's  dismissal,  a.d.  1560 — His  fruitless  revolt  and  kind 


1  HISTOKY    OF    INDIA. 

reception  by  Akbar — Ilia  death — Akbar's  task — Akbar's  early 
conquests — Troubles  in  M;ilwa — Progress  of  the  Uzbek  revolt, 
15G2 — Suppression  of  the  Uzbek  revolt,  A.D.  1567 — Capture  of 
Chit<5r,  March,  IfifiH — Self-devotion  of  the  Rijpnt  garrison — 
Akbar's  relations  with  Riijput  princes — Akbar  inGujariit,  A.D. 
1672 — His  boldness  and  narrow  escape — Akbar's  sudden  march 
to  Ahmaddbiid,  July,  1573 — Rout  of  the  rebels,  and  final  sup- 
pres.«ion  of  the  revolt — Akbar's  progress  in  Bengal,  A.D.  157.5 
— Datid  Khan's  revolt  and  death,  A.D.  1576 — Final  conquest  of 
Bengal,  A.D.  1580 — Subjection  of  Orlssa,  A.D.  1592 — Mima 
Hakim  invades  the  Panjjfb,  A.D.  1584 — Is  taken  back  into 
Akbar's  favour — Mozaffar  Shah's  revolt  in  Gujardt,  A.D.  1581 
— His  capture  and  death,  A.D.  1593 — Akbar'n  conquest  of 
Kashmir,  A.D.  I.'i87 — Moghal  disasters  in  the  Tusufzai  Hills, 
A.D.  1586— Annexation  of  Kandahdr,  A.D.  1594— Sindh,  1592 
— Siege  of  Ahmadnagar  by  the  Moghals,  A.D.  1596 — Surrender 
of  B^rdr  to  Prince  Morad — League  of  the  Dakhani  princes 
against  Akbar — Battle  of  Sonpat,  January,  1597 — Second  siege 
of  Ahmadnagar — Khdndesh  conquered  by  the  Moghals,  1601 
— Akbar  recalled  to  Agra  by  his  son's  misconduct,  1602 — Mur- 
der of  Abul  Fazl — Akbar  reconciled  to  Selim,  A.D.  160.3 — 
Akbar's  illness — Last  hours  and  death  of  Akbar,  October  13th, 
1605 — Akbar's  religious  tolerance — His  legislation  on  religious 
subjects — Removal  of  Hindu  disabilities^Repression  of  sla- 
very— Introduction  of  a  new  era  instead  of  the  Hijra — Atbar's 
war  against  beards — His  ste.ady  patronage  of  Hindus — Akbar 
as  a  peaceful  administrator — Settlement  of  the  land  revenue 
under  Todar  Mai — Reforms  in  the  police  and  public  justice — 
Reforms  in  the  army — Akbar's  public  works — Extension  of  the 
canal  system — Personal  details  regarding  Akbar 107 


CHAPTEE  III. 
JAHANGIR,   1605—1627. 

Accession  of  Jahdngir,  a.d.  1605 — His  first  acts — Khusm's  rebel- 
lion, A.D.  1 606 — JahdngiVs  cruel  revenge  on  Khusru's  followers 
— Udaipur  reduced  to  submission  by  Shah  Jaha'n,  A.D.  1611 — 
Malik  Ambar  brought  to  terms,  1617 — His  final  submission  to 
Shah  Jahdn,  1621 — Early  history  of  Niir-Jahan — Her  marriage 
to  Shir  Afgan — Her  husband's  death — Niir-Jahdn's  marriage 
to  the  Emperor,  a.d.  IGll — Her  great  influence  at  Court 
— Niir-Jahdn's  change  of  purpose  towards  Shah  Jahan, 
A.D.  1621 — Result  of  her  intrigues — Rebellion  of  Shah  Jahdn, 


CONTENTS.  XVll 

A.D.  1623 — His  advance  into  Bengal,  a.d.  1G24 — His  retreat 
and  final  submission,  1625 — Niir-Jahdn'g  intrignes  against 
Mohdbat  Khiin — J ahangi'r  captured  by  Mohabat  Khdn,  March, 
l6;iG — Jahangir  finally  rescued  by  his  Empress,  A.D.  1627 — 
Death  of  Prince  Parvis — Mohdbat  Kh^n  joins  Shiih  Jahan 
— Death  of  Jahangir,  October,  1G27 — Messrs.  Fitch  and  New- 
bery's  visit  to  the  Court  of  Akbar,  1587 — Captain  Lancaster's 
first  voyage,  1591 — Foundation  of  the  East  India  Company, 
December,  IGOO — Their  first  ventures — Mission  of  Captain 
Hawkins,  1607 — Hawkins  received  at  the  Emperor's  Court, 
1609 — His  partial  success  and  ultimate  failure — Defeat  of  the 
Portuguese  off  Surat  by  Captain  Best,  a.d.  1612 — Surat  finally 
opened  to  English  trade,  1613 — Embassy  of  Sir  Thomas  Roe 
to  the  Great  Moghal,  a.d.  1615 — New  rights  conceded  to  the 
East  India  Company  by  the  Emperor,  1617 — Massacre  of 
Amboyna,  1G23 — The  Company's  first  fortified  factory  at 
Aimegaun,  1625— Founding  of  Madras,  1639 121 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SHAH    JAHAN,    1628 1658. 

Accession  of  Shah  Jahin,  January,  1628 — His  splendid  tastes — 
Revolt  of  Khdn  Jahan  Lodi,  1629 — His  alliance  with  Ahmad- 
nagar — Death  of  Kh^  Jahan,  1630 — Renewal  of  the  war  in 
the  Dakhan — Bijapur  and  Shahji  take  up  arms  against  the 
Moghal — Submission  of  Bijapur,  1636 — Shahji  makes  peace — 
Capture  of  the  Portuguese  fort  at  Hiighli,  1632— Recovery  of 
Kandahdr,  1637 — Its  recapture  by  the  Persians,  1647 — Con- 
quest of  Balkh,  1645 — Balkh  abandoned  to  its  former  master 
— The  Empire  at  peace,  1653-55 — Shah  Jahan's  magnificence — 
State  of  the  Empire — Rebuilding  of  Dehli— The  Taj  Mahal  at 
Agra — The  Peacock  Throne  at  Dehli — Renewal  of  war  in  the 
Dakhan,  1656 — <3olkonda  invaded  by  Aurangzib,  1656 — The 
King's  submission — Death  of  Mahmud  AdU  Shah  of  Bijipdr, 
1656 — Aurangzib  invades  Bijapur,  1657 — The  doom  of  Bij^piir 
averted  for  a  time  by  Shah  Jahan's  illness — Shah  Jahdn's 
four  sons  fight  for  empire,  1658 — Prince  Dfira — Aurangzib — 
Shuj£i — Mor^d — Aurangzib  makes  use  of  Morad — Defeat  of 
Shuja — Ddra  twice  defeated  by  Aurangzib — Dethronement  of 
Shah  Jahan  by  Aurangzib,  August  20th,  1658— Progress  of 
the  East  India  Company — Factory  at  Pipli,  1634 — Factories  at 
Hughli  and  Balasdr — Formation  of  a  rival  company,  1634 — 
The  two  companies  coalesce,  1656 — Surat  and  Madras  made 

into  Presidencies 129 

b 


XV-lll  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

CHAPTER   V. 
aurangzi'b,    1658 — 1707. 

Pursuit  of  Dara — Shtijit  defeated  by  Aurangzi'b,  January  3rd, 
1659— Sliuja's  flight  into  Arakan,  1660 — Dara's  defeat  and 
flight  into  Gujardt,  1659 — Dara's  capture,  trial,  and  execution 
— Suspicious  death  of  Aurangzib's  nephews,  1661 — Murder  of 
Mordd,  1662 — Mir  Jumla's  failure  in  Assam — His  death,  1663 
— Aurangzib's  dangerous  illness,  1663 — His  success  in  baffling 
the  intrigues  of  his  enemies — Rise  of  the  Maratha  power — 
Mdloji  Bhdsla — Marriage  of  his  son,  Shdhji  Bhdsla,  to  the 
daughter  of  Jadu  Rao — Birth  of  Sivaji,  May,  1627 — His 
boyhood  at  Puna — His  first  enterprises — Sivaji  captures  the 
fort  of  Toma,  1646 — He  conquers  part  of  the  Kankan,  1648 — 
Shilhji  imprisoned  at  Bijdpiir,  1640,  on  his  son's  account — His 
final  release,  and  the  renewal  of  his  son's  raids,  1653 — SiVajfs 
character  and  methods  of  attack — Sivaji's  conquests  in  the 
Western  Gh^ts,  1655 — His  renewed  assaults  on  Bijiipiir,  1658 
— Murder  of  Afzul  Khan  and  defeat  of  his  troops  by  Sivaji, 
1659 — Si'vajTs  escape  from  Panala,  16G0 — He  makes  peace 
with  Bijapur,  1662 — Extent  of  his  conquests — Sivaji  at  war 
with  the  Moghals,  1663— Plunders  Surat,  1664— Death  of 
Shahji,  1664 — Sivajfs  naval  exploitb — Sack  of  Barsaldr,  1665 
— Sivaji  makes  peace  with  the  Moghals — Aurangzi'b  invites 
Sivaji  to  Dehli,  1666 — His  contemptuous  treatment  of  Sivaji 
— Sivaji's  escape  from  Dehli,  1666 — Prosperity  of  the  Empire 
at  this  time — The  Emperor's  ill  success  against  Bijapur — 
Si'vaji  again  makes  peace  with  Aurangzi'b,  1667 — Levies  tribute 
from  Bijapur  and  Golkonda — Sivaji's  success  as  a  ruler,  1668, 
1669 — The  Emperor  breaks  the  peace,  1670 — Sivajfa  successes 
— The  chauth  levied  in  Khandesh — Sivaji  defeats  the  Moghals 
in  the  open  field,  1672 — End  of  the  war  with  the  Afghan 
mountaineers,  1675 — Revolt  of  the  Satnaramis  quelled,  1675 — 
Auraugzib's  harsh  treatment  of  the  Hindus — The  Jiziya 
re-imposed,  1667— Revolt  of  the  Rajputs,  1678— The  Ritna  of 
Mewar  makes  peace,  1679 — Renewal  of  the  war,  1679 — Peace 
accepted  by  the  Rajputs,  1681 — Their  lasting  estrangement 
from  the  Empire — Sivajfs  progress  in  the  Kankan,  1673 — He 
is  crowned  at  Raigarh,  1674 — His  raids  into  Moghal  territory, 
1675 — His  march  through  Southern  India,  1677,  1678 — He 
helps  Bijapur  against;  the  Moghals,  1679 — Death  of  Sivaji, 
oth  April,  1680 135 


CONTENTS.  Xix 

CHAPTER  VI. 

AUKANGziB — {continued). 

Sambaji  succeeds  his  father — His  early  proceedings — Sambaji's 
repulse  from  Jinje'ra,  1682 — Aurangzib  invades  the  Dakhan, 
1683 — Jloghal  invasion  of  the  Eankan,  1684 — Prince  Azim'a 
retreat  from  Bijapiir,  1684 — SambajTs  successful  raids  against 
the  Moghals,  1685,  1686 — C!onquest  of  Bijapiir  by  Aurangzib, 
October,  1G86 — Death  of  the  last  King  of  Bijdpiir,  1689 — Fall 
of  Golkonda,  1687 — Aorangzib'e  progress  in  Southern  India, 
1688 — Capture  and  cruel  death  of  Sambaji,  1689 — Results  of 
Moghal  ascendancy  in  the  south — Rajah  Ram  upholds  the 
Maratha  cause  at  Jinji,  1690 — Tactics  of  the  Marathas — 
Capture  of  Jinji,  1698 — Progress  of  Rajah  Ram — His  death, 
1700 — Tara  Bhai,  Regent  of  the  Marathas — Aurangzib's  diffi- 
culties—Rising of  the  Jatsat  Bhartpur — Aurangzib's  disastrous 
retreat  before  the  Marathas,  1706^ — Death  of  Aurangzib,  2lBt 
February,  1707 — His  character — His  administrative  abUitiea — 
His  suspicious  nature — His  crooked  policy — His  religious 
earnestness,  and  its  results — Charles  II.  grants  the  East  India 
Company  a  new  charter,  1661 — Bombay  transferred  from 
Portugal  to  England,  1662 — Its  final  cession  to  the  East  India 
Company,  1668 — The  seat  of  the  Company's  rule  transferred 
from  Surat  to  Bombay,  1685 — Progress  of  the  Company's 
trade,  1686 — The  English  in  Bengal — An  English  fleet  enters 
theHtighli,  1686 — Fighting  at  Hiighli — Job  Charnock  retreats 
to  Chatanatti,  December,  1686 — English  losses  from  disease 
at  Hijah,  1687 — Charnock  again  leaves  Chatanatti — Bengal 
abandoned,  1G88 — The  Company's  aggressive  policy  in  Western 
India,  1686 — Moghal  reprisals — Aurangzib  makes  peace  with 
the  English,  11190 — Chamock's  return  to  Chatanatti^— Death  of 
Charnock,  1692 — The  site  of  Calcutta  granted  to  the  Company, 
1695 — Calcutta  fortified,  1700 — Amalgamation  of  rival  com- 
panies, 1702 — Fort  William  erected  into  a  Presidency,  1707  ...  144 

CHAPTER  Vn. 

SUCCESSORS    OF   AURANGZIB,    1707 1740. 

Piince  Azim  claims  the  Moghal  throne,  1707 — His  defeat  and 
death,  .Tune,  1707 — Defeat  and  death  of  Prince  Kambaksh, 
February,  1708 — Moazzim  Emperor,  as  Bahadur  Shah — Saho, 
son  of  Sambaji,  releiised  by  Prince  Azim,  1707 — Drives  his 
rivals  out  of  Satdra,  1708 — Concludes  a  treaty  with  the 
Moghals,  1709 — Bahadur  Shah  makes  peace  with  Marwar  and 

62 


U  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Jaipur,  1709 — Progress  of  the  Sikhs — Sikh  ontbreak  nnJer 
Gnra  Govind,  1G75 — His  eiUe  and  death — Sirhind  invaded  by 
the  Sikhs  under  Bandu,  170D — Bahadur  Shah  drives  the  Sikhs 
back  into  the  hills,  1711 — Death  of  Bahadur  Shah,  February, 
1712 — Accession  of  Jahandar  Shah,  May,  1712 — Murder  of  the 
Emperor  by  Farokhsir,  who  succeeds  him,  February,  1713 — 
Murder  of  Zulfikar  Khan — Farokhsir  plots  against  the  Saiyids 
— Hose'a  Ali,  Viceroy  of  the  Dakhan,  1715 — The  Viceroy 
makes  peace  with  the  Marathas,  1717 — Another  rising  of  the 
Sikhs — Their  utter  defeat — Cruel  death  of  Bandu  himself, 
1716 — Farokhsir  renews  his  plots  against  the  Saiyids — Hos<?n 
Ali  marches  to  Dehli,  1718 — Deposition  and  death  of  Farokh- 
sir, February,  1719 — Accession  of  Mohammad  Shah,  Septem- 
ber, 1719 — His  progress  in  the  Dakhan,  1720 — Death  of  Hosen 
Ali — Chin  Kilich,  Vizier  at  Dehli,  1722 — Suppresses  a  revolt 
in  Gujarat — Chin  Kilich  retires  to  the  Dakhan,  1723 — Defeat 
of  his  rival  Mobariz  Khan,  1724 — Haidarabad  becomes  his 
capital — Conquest  of  Ajmir  by  Aji't  Singh  of  Marwar,  1721— 
The  Jats  of  Bhartpiir  subdued  by  Rajah  Jai  Singh,  1723 — 
Progress  of  the  Mardthas  under  Bajf  Rao,  1720 — Invasion  of 
Malwa  and  Gujarat,  1724-25 — Saho's  successes  against  his 
rival  Samba,  1729 — Pilaji  Gaikwar,  Regent  of  Gujarat,  1731 — 
Rise  of  Holkar  and  Sindia — Compact  between  Chin  Kilich 
Khan  and  Baji  Rao,  1731 — The  Moghala  are  driven  out  of 
Gujarat,  1732 — Baji  Rao  becomes  master  of  Malwa,  1734,  and 
of  Jansi — Chin  Kdich  and  Sadat  Khan  join  to  defend  the 
Empire,  173G — Baji  Rao  threatens  Dehli,  1737 — Chiu  Kilich 
attacked  by  the  Marathas  near  Bopal,  1738 — Chin  Kilich 
surrenders  Mahva  and  other  territory  to  Baji  Rao,  1738 — 
Mahmud  the  Khiiji  conquers  Persia,  1722 — Rise  of  Nadir 
Shah — Nadir  recovers  Persia  for  Tahmasp — Nadir  ascends  the 
Persian  throne,  1736 — Nadir  Shah  invades  Hindustan,  Novem- 
ber, 1738 — Defeat  of  the  Moghals  near  Karnal,  February,  1739 
— Nddir's  entrance  into  Dehli,  March,  1739 — Bloody  riot  in 
the  city,  avenged  by  the  massacre  of  the  citizens — Nadir's 
extortions — Death  of  Sadat  Khan — Death  of  Bdji  Rao,  1740 
— Chimnaji  defeats  the  Portuguese  in  the  Kankan,  1739 — 
Lingering  warfare  of  the  Marathas  with  Angria — Baji  Rao's 
failure  against  Nasir  Jang 154 

CH^VPTER   "\T:II. 

THE    MOGHAL   EMPIRE    TO    THE    BATTLE    OF    pXnIPAT, 
1740—1761. 

State  of  the  Moghal  Empire  after  Nadir's  departure — Malwa  ceded 
by  imperial  grant  to  Balaji,  1741 — Raguji  again  enters  Bengal 


CONTENTS.  XXl 

— llis  general  murdeieJ  by  Alivardi  Khan,  1745 — RagujCs 
winnings,  1751 — Chfn  Kilich  suppresses  his  son's  revolt — The 
Maritthas  in  the  Camatic — Their  compromise  with  Nizdm-ol- 
Mulk,  174C— Death  of  Chin  Kilich,  June,  1748— Death  of 
Mohammad  Shah,  April,  1748 — His  defeat  of  the  Eohilla 
Afghans,  1745 — Ahmad  Khan,  the  Abdali,  crowned  at  Kanda- 
hsir,  1747 — His  invasion  of  India,  1748 — His  bloody  repulse 
near  Sirhind,  March,  1748 — Ahmad  Shah  Emperor,  April, 
1748_The  RohiUaa  again  defeated,  1751— Ahmad  Shah,  the 
Durdni,  conquers  the  Panjab,  1752 — Chauth  levied  in  Rohil- 
khand,  1752  —  Civil  strife  in  Dehli  —  Safdar  Jang  retreats 
into  Audh,  1753 — Ahmad  Shah  blinded  and  deposed,  July, 
1754,  by  Ghiizi-ud-din  the  younger — Progress  of  the  Ma- 
rathas  under  B^aji  Rao — Death  of  Rajah  Saho,  1749 — 
Rajah  Rim  II.  installed  in  his  place — The  Pe'shwa  reigns  at 
Puna — Cession  of  West  Berir  to  the  Mardthas,  1753 — Savan- 
driSg  captured  and  made  over  to  Bdlaji,  1755 — Capture  of 
Ahmadabdd  by  Ragoba,  1755— Chauth  levied  on  the  Jits  and 
Rdjputs,  1756 — Dehli  entered  and  sacked  by  Ahmad  Shah  the 
Durani,  Augost,  1757 — Ghazi-nd-din  brought  back  to  Dehli 
by  Ragoba,  1757 — Ragoba  conquers  the  Panjab,  1758,  and 
ravages  Rohilkhand — Maratha  conquests  in  the  Dakhan.  1760 
— Extent  of  the  Maritha  Empire,  1760 — Sedasheo  Bhao  dis- 
places Ragoba  in  Hindiistin — The  Marathas  driven  out  of  Ro- 
hilkhand, November,  1759 — Murder  of  Alamgi'r  by  the  Tizier, 
November,  1759 — Ahmad  Shah  marches  on  Dehli,  1760 — Dehli 
taken  and  plundered  by  the  Marathas — Ahmad  Shah  crosses 
the  Jamna,  October,  1760— The  Bhao  entrenches  himself  at 
Panipat — Preliminary  encounters  between  the  Afghans  and 
Manithas — Distress  of  the  Marithas — Battle  of  Panipat,  Janu- 
ary 6th,  1761 — Strength  of  the  opposing  armies — Arrangement 
of  the  Mardtha  line — The  Afghan  line  of  battle— Opening 
successes  of  the  Mariithas — Progress  of  the  battle — Ahmad 
Shah's  last  move — Defeat  and  rout  of  the  Marathas — The 
pursuit — Death  of  the  Bhao— Maratha  losses — Departure  of 
Ahmad  Shah — Downfall  of  the  Moghal  Empire — Grief  of  the 
Manithas — Death  of  the  P^shwa 165 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  FKENCH  AND  ENGLISH    IN   INDIA,    1715 1751. 

English  progress  in  Bengal — Mr.  Hamilton  cures  the  Emperor 
Farokhsfr,  1715 — Concessions  granted  by  the  Emperor  to  the 
English— Bhnjii-nd-din  drives  the  Ostend  East  India  Company 


a  HISTOKY    OF    INDIA. 

out  of  Bankipur,  1730 — Digging  of  the  Maratha  Ditch,  1742 
— The  pirates  of  the  Eankan — Failure  of  the  English  and 
Portuguese  against  Eolaba,  1722 — Power  of  the  Angrias 
broken,  175G — The  English  in  Madras — War  between  Prance 
and  England,  1744 — Designs  of  Labourdonnais  against  Madras 
— Siege  of  Madras  by  Labourdonnais,  1746 — Surrender  of 
Madras — The  terms  of  surrender  disallowed  by  Dupleix — 
Labourdonnais  quits  Madras — Anwar-ud-din  claims  Madras — 
Defeat  of  Anwar-ud-din  by  the  French,  November,  1746 — 
The  Nawab  again  defeated  at  St.  Thomc^ — Repulse  of  the 
French  from  Fort  St.  David,  January,  1747 — Failure  of  a 
second  attack,  March,  1747 — The  French  repulsed  from 
Kadaldr,  June,  1747 — Admiral  Boscawen  besieges  Pondicherry, 
September,  1747 — Failure  of  the  siege — Peace  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle,  1748 — Madras  restored  to  the  English,  1749 — English 
interference  in  the  affairs  of  Tanj{5r — Devikatta  captured  by 
Major  Lawrence,  1749 — Dupleix's  ambitious  designs — Chanda 
Sihib  released  from  prison — Defeat  and  death  of  Anwar-ud-din, 
1749 — Progress  of  Mozafar  Jang — Chanda  Sahib  declared 
Nawab  of  the  Camatic — Mohammad  Ali,  the  rival  Nawab, 
supported  by  the  English — Successes  of  Nasir  Jang,  Viceroy 
of  the  Dakhan,  1750 — Dupleix's  undaunted  bearing — His 
plots  with  Nasir  Jang's  nobles — The  Viceroy  retreats  from 
Pondicherry,  1750 — Masulipatam  recovered  by  the  French — 
D'AuteulVs  repulse  of  Mohammad  Ali — Mohammad  Ali  driven 
across  the  Panar — Bussy  carries  the  fortress  of  Jinji — Nasir 
Jang's  advance  on  Jinji — His  defeat  and  death,  1750 — Mozafar 
Jang  becomes  Subad^r  of  the  Dakhan,  1750 — Rewards  con- 
ferred on  Dupleix  and  his  countrymen — The  power  of  Dupleix 
at  its  highest,  1751 — Pathan  plots  against  the  new  Subadar — 
Death  of  Mozafar  Jang,  1751 — Sal^bat  Jang  made  Subadar 
of  the  Dakhan 17 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE    FIGHT    BETWEEN    FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH,    1751 1757. 

Intrignes  of  Mohammad  Ali  with  the  English,  1751 — Chanda 
Sahib's  advance  on  Trichinopoly,  February,  1751 — Retreat  of 
the  English  from  Volkonda — Clive's  successful  dash  upon 
Arkot,  August,  1751 — Siege  of  Arkot  by  R.i]ah  Sahib — Clive's 
brilliant  defence — He  refuses  to  surrender — Final  repulse  of 
the  besiegei-s — Retreat  of  Rajah  Sahib — Clive  follows  up  the 
enemy — Clive's  victory  at  Kavaripak — Lawrence  and  CUve 
at  Trichinopoly — The  French  surrender  to  Lawrence,  June, 


CONTENTS.  XXm 

1752 — Death  of  Chanda  Sahib — Dupleix  continnes  the  war — 
The  English  repulsed  from  Jinji — Second  siege  of  Trichino- 
poly,  1752-54 — Bussj's  proceedings  in  the  Dakhan — Cession 
of  the  Northern  Sarkars  to  Bussy,  1753 — M.  Godeheu  concludes 
a  treaty  with  the  Governor  of  Madras,  Mr.  Saunders,  Decem- 
ber, 1754 — Terms  of  the  treaty  favourable  to  the  Enghsh — 
Retirement  of  Dupleix — His  subsequent  misfortunes — Re- 
newed interference  of  the  English  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Camatic,  1755 — The  French  follow  suit — War  between  France 
and  England,  May,  1756 — The  French  appear  before  Trichino- 
poly.  May,  1757 — The  siege  raised  by  CaUiaud — Successes  of 
the  French  in  1757 — Suriij-ud-daula,  the  new  Subadar  of 
Bengal,  1756 — His  demands  on  Mr.  Drake — His  march  upon 
Calcutta— Siege  of  Calcutta,  June  17, 1756— Disgraceful  conduct 
of  the  English  leaders — Mr.  Holweli  continues  the  defence — 
The  garrison  abandoned  by  the  ships — Surrender  of  Fort 
WiUiam,  June  21st — The  night  in  the  Black  Hole — Fate  of 
the  survivors — Arrival  of  English  reinforcements  in  the 
Hiighli,  December,  1756 — Movements  of  Colonel  Clive — 
Calcutta  re-taken,  January,  1757 — Suraj-ud-daula  marches  on 
Calcutta — Clive  attacks,  and  forces  him  to  retreat,  February 
1757 — Suraj -ud-daula  makes  peace  with  the  English  185 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE  ENGLISH  TRIUMPHANT,  1751 1761. 

Suraj-ud-daula  plots  with  the  French — Admiral  Watson  sends  him 
a  threatening  letter — CUve  marches  against  Chandanagdr, 
14th  March  —  Surrender  of  Chandanagdr,  23rd  March  — 
Suraj-ud-daula  renews  his  plots — CUve's  counterplot  with  Mir 
■Tflffir — Interference  of  Amin  Chand — Chve  tricks  him  with  a 
forged  ireaty — Flight  of  Watts  from  Murshidabad — CHve 
marches  towards  Plassy,  June,  1757 — Capture  of  Katwa,  17th 
June — Clive's  hesitation — He  calls  a  council  of  war — Clive 
crosses  the  Ganges,  June  22nd — Encamps  in  the  grove  of 
Plassy,  June  23rd — The  Battle  of  Plassy — The  enemy's 
retreat — Capture  of  the  enemy's  camp — Capture  and  death 
of  Suraj-ud-daula — Mir  Jaffir  installed  as  Nawab  of  Bengal — 
Lands  bestowed  on  the  East  India  Company — Clive's  reward 
— Amin  Chand  undeceived — Clive  made  Governor  of  Fort 
William — Coote's  pursuit  of  the  French — Futile  risings  in 
Bengal,  1757 — English  conquests  in  the  Northern  Sarkars, 
1758-59 — Shah  Alam  invades    Bengal,   1759 — He  is  chased 


V  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

back  to  Dehli — A  Jagi'r  bestowed  on  Clive — A  Dutch  arma- 
ment in  the  Hiighli,  October,  1759 — Defeat  and  capture  of  the 
Dutch  fleet,  November,  1759 — The  Dutch  routed  at  Bidara  by 
Forde,  November  25th — Peace  concluded  between  the  English 
and  Dutch — Clive's  return  to  England,  February,  1700 — The 
French  in  Southern  India,  1758,  under  Lally — Capture  of  Fort 
St.  David  by  the  French — Lally  lays  siege  to  Madras,  Decem- 
ber, 1758 — The  siege  raised,  February,  1759 — Ront  of  the 
French  before  Wandiwash  by  Colonel  Coote,  January,  1760 — 
French  reverses,  1700 — Siege  of  Pondicherry,  September,  1760 
— Lally  in  extremities — Surrender  of  Pondicherrj',  January, 
1761 — Lally's  sad  fate — Extinction  of  the  French  power  in 
India,  17C1 — The  French  Company  abolished,  1769 193 


CONTENTS. 


BOOK   IV. 

THE   RULE    OF  THE  COilPANY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  ENGLISH  IN  BENGAL,  1761 1771. 

State  of  India  in  1761 — The  Moghal  empire — The  Panjab — 
Sindh— Rohilkhand— Audh— Eajputana— The  Marathas— The 
Jata  of  Bhartpur— The  Dakhan— Maisdr— The  Camatic— 
Travankdr— Goa  —  The  English  possessions  —  Bengal— Shah 
Alam  marches  on  Patna,  1760— Defeated  by  Colonel  Calliand, 
'20th  Februarj- — Again  defeated  by  Captain  Knos,  May,  1760 — 
Knox  defeats  the  Nawab  of  Pamia,  June  16th— ilir  Kasim 
plots  against  his  father-in-law- Abdication  of  ilir  Jaffii-, 
October,  1760— ilir  Kasim's  proceedings,  1761— His  treatment 
of  Eamnarain,  1762— His  disputes  with  the  English— Violent 
conduct  and  imprisonment  of  Jlr.  Ellis— War  between  the 
English  and  the  Nawab,  July,  1763— Mi'r  Kasim's  defeat  at 
Katwa,  19th  July— ilir  Jaffir  proclaimed  Nawab— Adams 
victorious  at  Geriah,  2nd  August— ilir  Kasim's  cruel  ven- 
geance— Walter  Eeinhardt,  alias  Sumrn — ilassacre  of  the 
English  at  Patna,  5th  October,  1763— Storming  of  Patna  by 
Major  Adams,  6th  November — Mir  Kasim  escapes  into  Audh, 
December,  1763— Hlness  and  death  of  Major  Adams— Shall 
Alam  again  defeated  by  the  English,  1761 — Falls  into  the 
hands  of  Shuja-nd-daula  —  Shuja-ud-danla  repulsed  from 
Patna,  3rd  May,  176-1- Major  Munro  queUs  a  mutiny  among 
his  troops,  August,  176-t — Sets  out  for  Baxar,  October— Battle 
of  Baxar,  23rd  October,  1764— Utter  rout  of  the  Nawab-Yizier 
Advance  of  the  English  to  Allahabad— Fruitless  negotia- 
tions with  Shuja-ud-daula  —  The  English  repulsed  from 
Chunar — Defeats  of  the  Marathas  and  the  Nawab-Tizier  by 
Camac,  1765— Shuja-ud-daula  makes  peace — Arrival  of  Lord 


n  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Clive  in  Calcutta,  May,  1765— Treaty  with  the  Nawab  of 
Audh — Shah  Alam  cedes  Bengal,  Eahar,  and  Orissa  to  Clive, 
August,  1765 — Xajm-ud-daula,  titular  Kawab  of  Bengal — 
Eetirement  of  llir  Kasim  and  Sumru — Position  of  the  English 
in  1765 — Olive  suppresses  the  ofEcers'  mutiny,  1766 — Reforms 
carried  out  by  Clive  in  the  civil  government — State  of  affairs 
in  the  Civil  Service,  1766 — Clive  suppresses  the  private  trade 
of  the  Company's  servants — His  measures  for  increasing  their 
lawful  pay — Clive  sets  sail  for  England,  January,  1767 — Estab- 
lishment of  "  Lord  Clive's  Fimd  " — Ill-treatment  of  Clive  at 
home — His  bold  defence,  1770 — The  House  of  Commons  re- 
jects the  vote  of  censure  against  Clive,  1772 — Death  of  Clive, 
21th  Xovember,  1774    203 


CHAPTER  n. 

ETENTS    IN    SOUTHERN    AND    UPPER    INDIA,    1761 1775. 

Affairs  in  the  Camatic,  1761-63— Treaty  of  1763  between  France 
and  England — Salabat  Jang  murdered  by  his  brother,  Xizam 
Ali,  1763 — Xiziim  Ali  retires  from  the  Carnatic — The  English 
occupy  the  Northern  Sarkars,  1766 — Their  treaty  of  alliance 
with  the  Jsizdm — Rise  of  Haidar  Ali  Khan — He  dethrones  the 
Rajah  of  Maisdr,  1765 — The  Feshwa  ravages  Maisdr,  January, 
1767 — Nizam  Ali  plays  the  English  false — Defeat  of  Haidar 
and  the  Nizam  at  Changama  by  Colonel  Smith,  3rd  September 
— Smith  again  victorious  at  TrinomaUi,  26th  September — 
Calvert's  brave  defence  of  Ambiir,  November,  17G7 — The  siege 
raised  by  Colonel  Smith — Fresh  treaty  between  the  English 
and  the  Nizam,  February,  1768 — Haidar  denounced  as  a  rebel 
and  usurper — English  successes  in  the  west,  1768 — Recapture 
of  MangaWr  by  Haidar — Smith's  progress  in  Maisdr,  1768 — 
Haidar's  failure  to  obtain  terms — His  subsequent  successes — 
His  bold  march  upon  Madras,  1769 — Haidar  dictates  peace 
before  Madras.  April  3,  1769 — Maratha  irruption  into  Northern 
India,  1769 — Shah  Alam  installed  at  Dehli  by  the  Marathas, 
25th  December,  1771  —  Shah  Alam  intrigues  against  the 
Marathas,  1772 — Defeat  of  Najaf  Khan — Terms  imposed  on 
Shah  Alam,  December,  1772 — Korah  and  Allahabad  made  over 
by  the  English  to  Shuja-ud-daula,  1773 — Retreat  of  the  Ma- 
rathas southwards.  May,  1773 — Haidar  All's  ill-success  against 
the  Marathas,  1770 — His  defeat  by  Trimbak  Mama,  1771 — His 
vain  appeal  to  Madras — His  disastrous  peace  with  the  Ma- 
rathas, December,  1771 — Progress  of  affairs  in  Bengal,  1767- 
1771 — Great  famine  in  Bengal,  1770 — Reforms  annotmced  by 


CON'TENTS.  XrVU 

the  Couit  of  Directors,  1771— Rise  of  Warren  Hastings- 
Hastings  at  Madras,  1769 — His  arrival  as  President  at  Cal- 
cutta, April,  1772  — His  proceedings  against  Mohammad 
Reza  Khan  and  Shitab  Rai — Acquittal  of  those  officers — 
Disappointment  of  Nand  Kumar — Reformfl  instituted  by 
Hastings — Transfer  of  the  seat  of  government  to  Calcutta — 
Administration  of  civil  and  criminal  justice — Settlement  of 
the  land-revenue — Appointment  of  English  collectors — The 
central  Board  of  Revenue — Parliament  takes  the  Company's 
affairs  in  hand— Lord  North's  Regulating  Act,  1773 — The 
Govemor-G«neral  and  CouncU— The  Supreme  Court  of  Judi- 
cature— Cessation  of  tribute  to  the  Emperor,  1773 — Cession  of 
Korah  and  Allahabad  to  Audh — Loan  of  English  troops  to 
Shuja-ud-daula,  177-1 — Reasons  for  the  arrangement — Colonel 
Champion  enters  Rohilkhand,  1774 — He  defeats  the  Rohillas  at 
Rampur,  23rd  April,  1774 — Expulsion  of  the  Pathans  from 
Rohilkhand — Beginning  of  the  quarrel  between  Hastings  and 
his  new  council,  1774 — Character  and  proceedings  of  Francis — 
His  reversal  of  Hastings'  pohcy  towards  Audh,  1776 — In- 
terference of  the  Council  in  other  directions — Encouragement 
given  by  Francis  to  Nand  Kumdr  —  Prosecution  of  Nand 
Kumar  in  the  Supreme  Court — Trial  and  condemnation  of  the 
Rajah — Remarks  on  his  sentence — No  efforts  made  to  save 
him — Execution  of  Nand  Kumar,  August,  1775 — Conduct  of 
the  spectators    21B 


CHAPTER  in. 

WAKSEN  HASTINGS,  1775 1786. 

Opposition  to  Hastings  at  home — ^The  Court  of  Proprietors  befriend 
him — Death  of  Colonel  Monson,  September,  1776 — Improve- 
ment in  Hastings'  prospects — Clavering's  attempt  to  oust 
Hastings,  1777 — Hastings  counteracts  him — His  successful 
appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court — Death  of  Clavering,  1777 — ■ 
Hastings  regains  the  ascendency  in  Council — Revision  of  the 
revenue — Settlements  in  Bengal,  1777-1778  —  Hastings  re- 
appointed Governor-General,  177S  —  Progress  of  events  in 
■VVestern  India,  1772-1775 — Murder  of  the  Peshwa  Narain 
Rao,  177'2 — Ragoba  claims  to  succeed  him — A  rival  Peshwa 
set  up  at  Piina — The  Bombay  Government  agrees  to  help 
Ragoba,  1775 — Successes  of  Colonel  Keating — The  Treaty  of 
Surat  disallowed  by  the  Bengal  Government — Treaty  of 
Puranda,  March,  1776 — Failure  of  the  treaty — Reception  of 
M.  St.  Lubin  at  Piina,  March,  1777 — Renewal  of  war  with  the 


mi  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Marathas,  1778 — Eetreat  of  the  Bombay  force  from  Taligdon, 
1779 — Disgraceful  convention  of  Worgaom,  13th  January, 
1779 — The  convention  annulled — Goddard  defeats  the  Ma- 
rathas, 1780 — Hartley  in  the  Kankan — Popham's  bold  march 
across  the  Jamna,  February,  1780 — His  daring  capture  of 
Gwiilior,  August  3rd  —  Surrender  of  Bassein  to  Goddard, 
December,  1780 — Hartley  defeats  the  Marathas,  December — 
Defeat  of  Sindia  by  Camac,  March,  1781 — Goddard's  retreat 
from  the  Ghita,  1781— Progress  of  Haidar  Ali,  1772-1778 — 
His  frontier  extended  to  the  Kistna,  1778 — Rejection  of 
Haidar's  overtures  at  Madras — Progress  of  affairs  in  Madras, 
1773-77 — Dissensions  in  the  Madras  Council — Imprisonment  of 
Lord  Pigot,  1776 — "War  between  France  and  England,  1778 — 
Pondicherry  once  more  taken,  October — Capture  of  Mahe, 
1779 — Haidar's  wrath  thereat — Haidar's  league  with  Nana 
Famawi's — His  preparations  for  war  with  the  EngMsh — Neu- 
trality of  the  Nizdm — Apathy  of  the  Madras  Government, 
1780 — Haidar  bursts  upon  the  Camatic,  July,  1780 — Slow 
progress  of  Baillie's  column,  September — Its  defeat  and  utter 
destruction,  September  10th— Fate  of  the  survivors — Mtmro 
falls  back  upon  Madras  —  Arkot  captured  by  Haidar,  No- 
vember, 1780 — Hastings'  energetic  measures — Sir  Eyre  Coote 
hastens  to  Madras — Gallant  defence  and  relief  of  Wandiwash, 
January,  1781 — Coote'a  failure  at  Chillambram,  June — Coote 
defeats  Haidar  at  Porto  Novo,  July  1 — Haidar  again  defeated 
at  Sholingarh,  24th  September — "War  with  Holland — Capture 
of  Negapatam,  November — Fall  of  Trincomalee,  January,  1782 
— The  revenues  of  the  Camatic  assigned  to  the  English — Coote 
relieves  Velldr — Successes  of  Major  Abingdon  in  Malabar — 
Destruction  of  Braithwaite's  force  by  Tippn,  1782 — Indecisive 
battles  at  sea — Kadaldr  and  Trincomalee  taken  by  the  French — 
Coote  retires  to  Bengal,  December,  1782 — Darkening  prospects 
at  Madras — Death  of  Haidar  Ali,  7th  December,  17S2 — Break- 
ing up  of  the  Maritha  League.  1781-82 — Treaty  of  Salbai.  May, 
178'2— Death  of  Coote,  26th  April,  1783— Progress  of  Bnssy, 
April — Capture  of  Bedndr  by  Tippu,  May,  1783 — Defence 
and  final  surrender  of  Mangaldr,  May,  1783,  to  January,  17S4 — 
Bossy  defeated  by  General  Stuart,  1783 — Cessation  of  hos- 
tilities between  French  and  English,  July,  1783 — Progress  of 
Colonel  Fullarton,  1783 — The  Madras  Government  treats  for 
^>eace  with  Tippn,  1783  —  Tippu's  treatment  of  the  English 
envoys — Embarrassments  of  the  Nawab-Vizierin  Audh,  1775 — 
Mutiny  among  his  troops — Treaty  of  peace  with  Tippu,  March, 
1784     : 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WAEREx  HASTINGS — (continued). 

Strife  in  Bengal  between  the  Supreme  Court  and  the  Company's 
servants,  1779-80 — Impey  becomes  head  of  the  Sadr  Dewdni 
Adalat,  1780 — Good  results  of  this  step— Vacillation  of  the 
Court  of  Directors — Impey  removed  from  his  new  post,  1782 — 
Impey's  recall  from  Calcutta,  1783 — Hastings'  demands  on 
Chait  Singh — Chait  Singh  placed  in  arrest  by  Hastings, 
August,  1781 — Popular  rising  in  Banaras — Hastings  withdraws 
to  Chunar— Flight  of  Chait  Singh,  October,  1781— Capture  of 
Bijigarh,  9th  November — Appointment  of  a  new  Rajah — 
Hastings'  treaty  with  the  Nawab  of  Audh — Plunder  of  the 
Audh  Be'gams — Hastings  censured  by  the  Court  of  Directors, 
1782 — His  final  retirement,  1785 — His  reception  in  England — 
Pitt's  India  Bill  of  1784 — Proceedings  against  Hastings  in  the 
House  of  Commons — Discussion  of  the  charges  brought  against 
him,  1786-87 — His  impeachment  before  the  Lords,  1788 — His 
triumphant  acquittal,  1795 — Pension  granted  him  by  the  Court 
of  Directors — His  final  appearance  before  the  Commons,  1813 
— His  last  years  and  death,  1813-18 — Revenues  of  the  Camatic 
restored  to  Mohammad  Ali,  1786 — Macpherson  acts  for  Hast- 
ing, 1785-86 — Lord  ComwaUis  Governor-General  of  India. 
September,  1786 — State  of  affairs  in  India 246 


CHAPTER  V. 

LORD    COBNWALLIS,    1786 1793. 

The  new  Governor-General's  reforming  measures — Cession  of 
Gantur  to  the  Company,  1788 — The  Nizam's  overtures  to 
Tippu  come  to  naught — Bargain  concluded  between  Comwallis 
and  the  Nizam — Tippu's  resentment — Tippa  invades  Tra- 
vankdr,  December,  1789 — Advance  of  General  Meadows,  May, 
1790 — Capture  of  Palghat,  21st  September— Defeat  of  Colonel 
Floyd — Arrival  of  the  Bengal  column,  November — Hartley's 
achievements  on  the  Bombay  side — Fall  of  Kanandr — Com- 
wallis replaces  Meadows,  1791 — Fall  of  Bangaldr,  21st  March 

Defeat  of  Tippu  at  Arikera,  14th  May— Retreat  of  the  English, 
26th  May — Conquest  of  the  Baramahal — Capture  of  the  Hill 

Forts  in  Maisdr — Capture  of   Koimbator  by  Tippu,    1791 

Final  advance  on  Seringapatam,  1792 — Tippu  treats  for  terms 
— Terms  offered  by  Comwallis,  February — Hitch  in  the  nego- 


;X  HISTORY    OP    INDIA. 

tiations,  March — Conclusion  of  the  treaty  with  Tippu,  March 
19th — Gains  of  the  victors — Progress  of  Mahdaji  Sindia — 
His  advance  to  Dehli,  1784 — Titles  conferred  on  the  Peshwa 
and  Sindia  by  Shah  Alam — Sindia's  difficulties — His  troops  are 
disciplined  by  European  officers — His  defeat  by  the  Rajijuts, 
1787 — His  victory  over  Ismael  Beg,  June,  1788 — Ghola'm  Kadir 
enters  Dehli — His  troops  plunder  the  city — Shah  Alam  blinded 
by  Gholam  Kadir,  10th  August,  1788 — Gholdm  Eadir's  dread- 
ful punishment,  March,  1789 — Reinstalment  of  Shah  Alam, 
October,  1788  —  Triumphant  progress  of  Mahdaji  Sindia, 
1789-92 — Sindia  sets  out  for  Piina,  1792 — Grand  investiture 
at  Piina,  July — Sindia's  mock  humility — Eclipse  of  Nana 
Famawis,  1793 — Sindia  at  the  height  of  his  power— His  death, 
12th  February,  179J — The  Permanent  Settlement  of  Bengal — 
The  land-rents  of  India — How  divided— Rise  of  the  Bengal 
Zamindars — Decay  of  the  village  communities — The  Zamindari 
settlement  of  1789 — The  Zamindari  settlement  made  perpetual, 
1793— Objections  to  the  Permanent  Settlement — Hardships 
endured  by  the  Rayats — Excuses  to  be  made  for  the  Za- 
mindars— The  evU  of  summary  sales  of  land— Drawbacks  to 
a  fixed  assessment  in  money — Hard  and  fast  character  of  such 
assessments — The  land  revenue  becomes  stationary — Resort  to 
new  means  of  taxation — General  view  of  the  Permanent  Set- 
tlement— Its  results  for  good  or  evil — Reforms  in  the  civil  and 
criminal  courts — The  revised  code  of  regulations — Exclusion 
of  natives  from  the  higher  posts — Evil  effects  of  such  ex- 
clusion-Capture of  Pondicherry,  August,  1793 — Retirement 
of  Lord  Comwallis,  October,  1793— Sir  John  Shore  Governor- 
General    253 


CHAPTER  VI. 

SIR    JOHN     SHOKE    AND    MARQUIS    WELLESLEY,    1793 1800. 

State  of  affairs  in  Southern  India,  1794— Shore's  refusal  to  help  the 
Nizdm- War  between  the  Mardthas  and  Nizam  Ah,  1795— 
Defeat  of  the  Nizam  at  Kurdla,  11th  March— The  Nizam  makes 
peace,  13th  March,  1795— Supremacy  of  NanaFamawis,  1795- 
Death  of  the  Peshwa  Madhu  Rao  11.,  October,  1795— Intrigues 
concerning  a  successor  to  the  late  Peshwa— Chimnaji  Appa 
placed  for  a  term  on  the  throne,  May,  179f — Baji  Rao  installed 
as  Peshwa,  4th  December,  179«— Biiji  plots  against  Sindia  and 
Nifna  Farnawis — Imprisonment  and  subsequent  release  of  the 


CONTENTS.  XXXI 

Nana,  1796-97 — Mutiny  among  the  Company's  officers,  1790 — 
Concessions  made  by  Sir  J.  Shore — Displeasure  of  Pitt's 
ministry — Disputed  succession  to  the  throne  of  Audh,  1797 — 
Settlement  in  favour  of  Siidat  Ali — Shore's  dangerous  position 
at  Lucknow — Retirement  of  Sir  John  Shore,  March,  1798 — 
Lord  Momington,  Governor-General — Tippu's  intrigues  with 
the  French — Lord  Momington's  prompt  measures  —  Un- 
readiness at  Madras — Doubtful  attitude  of  the  Marathas — 
Disarming  of  the  Nizam's  French  contingent,  10th  October, 
1798  —  New  treaty  with  the  Nizam — Tippu  declines  to  be 
warned  in  time — His  intrigues  ^vith  Kabul  and  Buonaparte — 
Advance  of  General  Harris  on  Seringapatam,  February,  1799 — 
Tippu's  obstinacy — Failure  of  his  attack  on  Hartley,  6th 
March,  1799  —  Hia  defeat  at  Malavalli  by  General  Harris, 
27th  March — Flank  march  of  General  Harris  —  Tippu's  rage 
thereat  —  Siege  of  Seringapatam,  17th  April  —  Assault  and 
capture  of  the  city,  3rd  May,  by  General  Baird  —  Dis- 
covery of  Tippu's  body — Incidents  of  the  funeral,  4th 
May — Losses  and  gains  of  the  victors — Lord  Momington 
becomes  Marquis  Wellesley — Division  of  Maisdr — The  old 
Hindu  dynasty  restored — Fate  of  Tippu's  family — Timely 
fmstration  of  Maratha  intrigues — New  subsidiary  tieaty  with 
the  Nizam,  October,  1800 — Tanjdr  placed  under  English  rule, 
1799 — Absorption  of  Surat — Absorption  of  the  Camatic,  1801 — 
Defence  of  Lord  Wellesley 's  policy — "  Vestigia  nulla  re- 
troi-sum "     2G7 


HISTORY    OF    INDU. 


BOOK  V. 

THE   ENGLISH   PARAMOUNT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MARQUIS    WELLESLET TO    1805. 

Rising  of  Dhundia  Wagh  in  Maisdr,  1799— His  final  defeat  and 
death,  September,  1800 — Baird's  expedition  to  Egypt,  1800 — 
Wellesley's  plans  against  the  Mauritins  thwarted  by  the 
English  Admiral,  1801 — Overtm-es  from  Wellesley  to  Persia — 
Ranjit  Singh  established  at  Lahdr,  1709— Malcolm's  embassy 
to  the  Shah  of  Persia,  1800— Its  immediate  results- Proceed- 
ings in  Audh,  1799— Rebellion  of  Wazir  Ali,  1799— Cession  of 
territory  by  Sadat  Ali,  November,  1801 — Wellesley's  internal 
reforms— Remodelling  of  the  Sadr  Courts — Encouragement  of 
private  trade— The  College  of  For*  William  founded,  1800 — 
Jobbery  of  the  Court  of  Directors — Lord  Wellesley's  resigna- 
tion deferred,  1802— Death  of  Nana  Famawis,  1800— Dissen- 
sions among  the  Marathas — Treaty  of  Bassein,  December, 
1802 — Baji  Rao  brought  back  to  Piina  by  the  English,  May, 
1803 — League  of  Sindia  with  the  Rajah  of  Berar- Sindia's 
threatening  movements  against  the  English — Lord  WeUesley 
declares  war  with  the  Marathas,  August,  1803 — Ahmadnagar 
captured  by  General  Wellesley,  August  12— Battle  of  Assai, 
September  23rd— Rout  of  the  Marithas— Conquest  of  Kattak, 
October — Fall  of  Asirgarh- Victory  of  Argaum,  November  28 
— Terms  of  peace  with  the  Rajah  of  Berar,  December,  1803 — 
Capture  of  Aligarh  by  General  Lake,  29th  August,  1803 — 
Defeat  of  the  Marathas  before  Dehli,  11th  September — liake's 
victory  near  Agi'a,  10th  October — Capture  of  Agra,  18th 
October — Battle  of  Laswari,  1st  November — Brave  resistance 
and  final  rout  of  Sindia's  troops  —  Cession  of  territory  by 
Sindia — Treaty  of  Sarji  Arjangaum,  30th  December — Division 
of  the  spoils — Wellesley's  relations  with  other  native  States 


CONTENTS.  XXSIU 

— Tlireatening  movements  of  Holkar,  1804 — The  English  take 
the  field  against  him,  April — Monson's  disastrous  retreat,  July 
— Holkar's  raid  against  Dehli,  October — Ochterlony's  gallant 
defence  of  Dehli — Pursuit  of  Holkar  by  Lake — Battle  of  Dhi'g, 
13th  November — Lake  beats  up  Holkar's  quarters  at  Faroka- 
bad,  17th  November — Capture  of  Dhi'g,  23rd  December — Un- 
successful siege  of  Bhartpiir,  February,  1805 — The  Rajah  of 
Bhartpur  raakea  peace  with  the  English — Sindia's  doubtful  at- 
titude— Lord  Wellesley's  retirement,  July,  1805 — His  treat- 
ment at  home 277 

CHAPTER  n. 

LOKD  CORNWALLIS  AND  LORD  MINTO,  1805 1813. 

Lord  Comwallis  again  Governor-General,  July,  1805 — Death  of 
Comwallis,  5th  October — Sir  George  Barlow  acts  in  his  stead 
— Reversal  of  Wellesley's  policy — Treaty  with  Sindia,  Novem- 
ber, 1805 — Mild  terms  granted  to  Holkar — Hard  fate  of  Bhundl 
and  Jaipur — Lord  Lake's  disgust  thereat — Holkar's  ravages  and 
extortions,  1806 — Raids  of  Sindia  and  Amir  Khan — Holkar's 
madness  and  death,  1811 — Intrigues  at  Piina  and  Haidariibad, 
defeated  by  Sir  G.  Barlow,  1806— Mutiny  of  Velldr,  July,  1806 
— Causes  of  the  mutiny — English  missionaries  in  Bengal — 
Mohammadan  intrigues — The  mutiny  suppressed  by  Colonel 
Gillespie— Recall  of  Lord  W.  Bentinck  from  Madras — Lord 
Mmto,  Governor-General,  July,  1807 — Sir  G.  Barlow  traus- 
feiTed  to  Madras — Aggressive  movements  of  Ranjit  Singh, 
1808 — Metcalfe's  mission  toLahdr — Treaty  with  Ranjit  Singh, 
April,  1809  —  Mission  to  Kabul,  1808  —  Rival  missions  to 
Teheran,  1809 — Amir  Khan's  raid  against  Berar,  1809 — Lord 
Minto's  timely  interference  —  Suppression  of  piracy  on  the 
Malabar  coast,  1809 — Proceedings  against  pirates  in  the  Per- 
sian Gulf,  1810 — Capture  of  Bourbon  and  the  Mauritius,  1810 
— Travankdr  placed  under  English  rule,  1809 — Mutiny  among 
the  Madras  officers,  1809 — Its  suppression  by  Sir  G.  Barlow, 
1810 — Rise  and  progress  of  the  Pindaris — Their  inroads  and 
cruelties — Retirement  of  Lord  Minto,  October,  1813 — Renewal 
of  the  Company's  Charter,  1813 — Opening  of  the  trade  of 
India— The  first  Bishop  of  Calcutta 287 

CHAPTER  ni. 

MAHQUIS    OF    HASTINGS,    1813 1823. 

Quarrel  mth  Nipal,  1813 — Nipalese  aggressions — The  Earl  of  Moira, 
Governor-General,    1813 — The   Gurkhas    invade    Ghorakpur, 
0 


UV  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

1814 — Expedition  against  Nipdl,  October — Death  of  Gillespie 
before  Kalanga,  October,  1814 — Capture  of  Kalanga,  December 
— Blunders  of  tlie  English  Generals — Ochterlony'a  euccesses — 
Capture  of  Malaun,  May,  1815 — Vain  negotiations  for  peace, 
1815 — Campaign  of  181G,  under  Ochterlony  —  Treaty  with 
JNip^,  March,  1816 — Lord  Moira  becomes  Marquis  of  Hastings 
— Lord  Hastings'  policy  towards  native  Princes — Alliance 
with  Bhopjil— Treaty  with  Appa  Sahib  of  Bcrar,  1816— The 
Treaty  of  June,  1817,  with  the  Peshwa — English  acquisitions 
— Jaipur  rescued  from  Amir  Khan — Kenewal  of  Pindiri 
ravages — Campaign  against  the  Pindaris,  1817 — Great  out- 
break of  cholera  in  Bengal,  1817 — Suppression  of  the  Pindaris 
— Death  of  Chi'tii,  the  Pindari  leader,  1818 — Renewed  plot- 
tings  of  the  Peshwa,  October,  1817 — Elphinstone's  precautions 
— Attack  upon  the  Piina  Residency,  November  5 — Battle  of 
Kirki — Rout  of  the  Marathas — Capture  of  Puna  by  General 
Smith,  November  17 — Staunton's  defence  of  Karigaum,  1st 
January,  1818 — Progress  of  General  Munro — Maraiha  defeat 
at  Ashti,  February,  1818 — Close  pursuit  of  Bdji  Rao — Sur- 
render and  dethronement  of  the  Peshwa,  May,  1818 — Annexa- 
tion of  his  dominions — The  Rajah  of  Satara  restored  to  power 
— Revolt  of  Appa  Stihib — Battle  of  Sitabaldi,  November,  1817 
— Defeat  of  the  Mardthas — Capture  of  Nagpiir,  December — 
Dethronement  of  Appa  Sahib — His  wanderings  and  death — 
War  with  Holkar — Victoiy  of  Mahidpur,  21st  December,  1817 
— ^Treaty  of  Mandisdr,  6Lh  January,  1818 — Sindia's  neutral  at- 
titude— Results  of  the  campaign — The  English  supreme  in 
India — A  new  reign  of  peace  and  order — Capture  of  Asirgarh, 
April,  1819— Elphinstone  at  Bombay,  1S20— The  Rayatwiri 
settlement  in  Madras,  1820 — The  village -settlement  in  the 
North-Westem  Provinces,  1821 — Outbreak  in  Orissa,  1818 — 
Lord  Hastings*  domestic  policy — Establishment  of  native 
schools — The  first  native  newspaper,  1 8 1 8 — Promotion  of  public 
works — Acquisition  of  Singapore,  1819 — State  of  affairs  at 
Haidardbid  —  Settlement  of  the  Nizam's  debts  —  Failure  of 
Messrs.  Palmer  &  Co.,  1822 — Flourishing  state  of  the  Indian 
revenues — Retirement  of  Lord  Hastings,  Januaiy  1,  1823 — 
His  treatment  by  the  Company,  1825 295 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LORD  AMHERST  AND  LORD  WILLIAM  BENTINCK,  1823 1835. 

liord  Amherst  lands  in  India,  1823— Progress  of  the  Burmese— 
Eurman  aggressions,  1818-22 — Fresh  raids  of  the  Burmese, 
1823 — Boastful  advance  of  Barman  troops  —  War   declared 


CONTENTS.  XXXV 

against  Bnrmah,  February,  182-t — Capture  of  Rangoon,  May 
11th — Movements  on  the  Tenasseiim  coast — Campbell's  ad- 
vance from  Rangoon,  December,  1824 — Defeat  of  the  Burmese 
— Capture  of  Donabyu,  April,  1825— Occupation  of  Prome, 
April  25 — Conquest  of  Assam,  1825 — 111 -success  of  the  Kachdr 
column — Morison's  advance  into  Arakan,  1825 — Dreadful  sick- 
ness among  his  troops — Campbell's  final  advance  on  Ava, 
December,  1825 — Fresh  defeats  of  the  Burmese — Treaty  of 
Yandabii,  24th  February,  182G — Cession  of  Assam,  Arakin, 
and  Tenasserim — Mutiny  of  the  47th  Native  Infantry  at  Bar- 
rackpiSr,  October,  1824 — Causes  of  the  mutiny — Its  stern  sup- 
pression, 2nd  November — Fate  of  the  mutineers — Siege  of 
Bhartpdr,  December,  1825 — Its  capture,  ISth  January,  1826 — 
Dethronement  of  the  Rajah — Death  of  Sir  Thomas  Munro, 
1827 — Sir  John  Malcolm,  Governor  of  Bombay,  1827 — Bishop 
Heber's  death,  1826 — Death  of  Daulat  Rao  Sindia — Death  of 
Sir  David  Ochterlony — Sir  C.  Metcalfe  at  Dehli — Retirement 
of  Lord  Amherst — Lord  William  Benttnck,  Governor-General, 
1828-35 — Prohibition  of  Satti,  1829 — Crusade  against  Thaggi, 
1830 — Its  final  suppression  by  Major  Sleeman — The  Half- 
Batta  order,  1829  —  Retrenc'oments  in  the  civil  service  — 
Abolition  of  flogging  in  the  Native  army — Native  Chrietdane 
in  the  civil  service — Change  in  the  laws  of  inheritance — 
Judicial  reforms — The  Calcutta  Medical  College,  1835 — New 
Settlement  of  the  North-Western  Provinces  under  Mr.  Robert 
Bird,  1833 — The  first  steam  voyage  up  the  Ganges,  1830 — The 
first  steamer  from  Bombay  to  Suez — The  native  Princes — 
Affairs  in  JodpiSr — GwaUor,  1833 — Jaipur  and  Bhopifl — Mis- 
rule in  Audh,  1831— Annexation  of  Kurg,  1834 — Annexation 
of  Kachitr,  1832 — Occupation  of  Maisdr,  1832 — Mohammadan 
rising  at  Bdraset,  1831 — Rebellion  of  the  Kdls  in  Bengal — 
Lieutenant  Outram  among  the  Bhils — Hall's  labours  in  Mair- 
wdra — The  Khdnds  of  Gumsar — Efforts  of  Campbell  and  Mac- 
pherson  to  suppress  human  sacrifices  —  Attempts  to  quell 
female  infanticide  among  the  Rajputs,  1830 — Causes  of  the 
practice — Russian  progress  in  Persia,  1812-28 — Bumes's  Mis- 
sion to  Ranjit  Singh,  1831 — The  Amirs  of  Sindh — Bumes  pro- 
ceeds up  the  Indus — Meeting  at  Rupar  between  Lord  Bentinck 
and  Ranji't  Singh,  October,  1831 — Commercial  treaties  with 
Sindh  and  the  PanjiCb,  1832— Retirement  of  Lord  W.  Bentinck, 
March,  1835— The  Charter  Act  of  1833— Extinction  of  the 
Company's  trade  privileges — New  rights  conceded  to  natives 
and  Europeans — Legislative  powers  of  the  Governor-General 
— Mr.  Macaulay  in  the  Supreme  Council 304 


c2 


SXXVl  HISTOBT    OF    INDIA. 

CHAPTER  V. 

LORD  AUCKLAND,  1836 1842. 

Sir  Charles  Metcalfe  acts  as  Governor-General.  1835 — Repeal  of  the 
laws  against  the  press  of  India — Annoyance  of  the  Home 
Government — Lord  Auckland,  Govemor-G«aeral,  1836 — Sir  C. 
Metcalfe  retires  from  India,  1836 — Lord  Auckland  interferes  in 
Audh,  1837 — Dethronement  of  the  King  of  Satara,  1839 — 
Captain  Bumes  at  Kabul,  1837 — Dost  Mohammad  asks  for 
English  aid — Lord  Auckland's  cold  reply — Herat  besieged  by 
the  Persians,  1837  —  Afghan  intrigues  with  Persia — Lord 
Auckland  takes  part  with  Shah  Shiija — The  Tripaitite  Treaty, 
1838 — Opinions  regarding  Lord  Auckland's  policy — Pottinger's 
successful  defence  of  Herat — Retreat  of  the  Persians  from 
Herat,  1838 — Assembling  of  the  Army  of  the  Indus,  November, 
1838 — Coercion  of  the  Sindh  Amirs— The  invasion  of  Afghanis- 
tan, 1839  —  Shah  Shiij^  at  Kandahar,  April  —  Capture  of 
Ghazni,  22nd  July — Flight  of  Dost  Mohammad,  August — The 
English  occupy  Kabul,  7th  August — Colonel  Wade's  advance 
through  the  Khaibar,  August — Death  of  Ranji't  Singh,  27th 
June — Honours  bestowed  on  the  conquerors — Return  of  the 
Bombay  troops,  September — Capture  of  Khelat,  October — Sir 
W.  Macnaghten  at  Kabul — Surrender  of  Dost  Mohammad, 
November,  1840 — Khilji  rising.  May,  1841 — Growmg  disaf- 
fection among  the  Afghans — Murder  of  Sir  Alexander  Bumes, 
2nd  November — Imbecility  of  the  English  commanders — 
Disasters  at  Kabul — Macnaghten  treats  with  the  Afghans — 
Disgraceful  conditions  accepted  by  General  Elphinstone, 
December — Treachery  of  the  Afghans — Murder  of  Macnaghten 
by  Akbar  Khan,  23rd  December  —  Negotiations  resumed — 
Elphinstone's  retreat  from  Kabul,  6th  January,  1842 — Ter- 
rible disasters  on  the  way — Dr.  Brydon  reaches  Jalalabad.  13th 
January — Annihilation  of  the  Kabul  force — State  of  feeling 
in  India  —  Bewilderment  at  head-quarters — Bold  attitude  of 
Nott  and  Sale — Clerk's  energy  at  Labor — 'Wild's  repulse  from 
the  Khaibar  Pass,  February — Darkening  prospects  at  Pesha- 
war, February,  1842 — March  of  reinforcements  under  General 
Pollock — Retirement  of  Lord  Auckland,  Febniary  28 — His 
recent  domestic  policy — Baneful  effects  of  his  foreign  policy  Slo 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LORD  ELLENBOROUGH  AND  LORD  HARDINGE,   1842 1848. 

Lord  EUenborough,  Governor-General,  1842— PoUock  at  Peshawar 
— The  difficulties  in  his  way — His  advance  into  the  Khaibar, 


CONTENTS.  XXXVU 

5th  April — His  brilliant  success — Belief  of  Jalflabid — Sale's 
final  defeat  of  Akbar  Khan,  7th  April — Pollocli  obtains  leave 
to  retire  by  way  of  Kabul,  July — Nott's  advance  from  Kanda- 
har, 7th  August — Recapture  of  Ghazni,  30th  August — Nott's 
victorious  entry  into  Kabul,  17th  September — Pollock's  ad- 
vance from  Jalalabad,  20th  August — Victories  of  Jagdalak 
and  Tazin,  August-September — Pollock's  entry  into  the  Bala 
Hissar,  16th  September — Rescue  of  the  English  captives  by 
Shakespear — Destruction  of  the  Kabul  Bazaar — March  home- 
ward of  the  conquerors,  12th  October — Fate  of  Shah  Shuja 
and  his  family — Grand  parade  at  Firozpiir — Liberation  of  Dost 
Mohammad — The  Governor-General's  bombast — Rewards  be- 
stowed on  the  victors — War  with  the  Sindh  Amirs,  1843 — 
Baluchi  attack  on  the  Haidarabad  Residency,  February,  1843 
— Outram's  retreat — Napier's  victory  at  Mi^ni,  17th  February 
— The  battle  of  Dabha  or  Haidarabad,  24th  March — Annexation 
of  Sindh — Disturbances  in  Gwalior — Anarchy  in  the  Panjab, 
1843 — Gough's  troops  march  towards  Gwalior,  December — 
Victories  of  Maharajpur  and  Paniar,  29th  December — Submis- 
sion of  Gwalior,  1844 — Colonel  Sleeman's  powers  as  Resident 
at  Gwalior — Abolition  of  slavery,  1843 — Recall  of  Lord  Ellen- 
borough,  June,  1844 — Sir  H.  Hardinge,  Governor-General,  July 
— Mutiny  of  Bengal  Sepoys,  March,  1844 — Outbreak  in  the 
Southern  Maratha  Country,  October — Its  suppression  by  Out- 
ram,  1845 — Napier's  campaign  in  the  Trakki  Hills,  1845^ 
Stat«  of  affairs  in  the  Panjdb — Death  of  Hira  Singh,  1844 — 
Sir  H.  Hardinge  prepares  for  war — The  Sikhs  march  towards 
the  Satlaj,  December,  1845 — Sir  Hugh  Gough  hastens  to  meet 
them — The  Sikhs  cross  the  Satlaj,  r2th  December — They  de- 
cline Littler's  offer  of  battle,  16th  December — Battle  of 
Mudki,  18th  December — Defeat  of  the  Sikhs — Battle  of  Firoz- 
Bhahr,  21st  December— The  night  of  the  21st^The  battle 
renewed,  2'2nd  December — Final  overthrow  of  the  Sikhs — 
Losses  of  the  victors — Sikh  movement  on  Ludiana,  20th 
January,  1846 — The  affair  of  Baduwal — Smith's  victory  at 
Aliwal,  28th  January — Battle  of  Sobraon,  10th  February — 
Utter  rout  of  the  Sikhs — Losses  and  gains  of  the  victors — 
Gough's  advance  to  Lah6r — Treaty  of  February  23 — Kash- 
mir sold  to  Guldb  Singh,  March,  1846 — Colonel  Lawrence 
resident  at  Lah<5r — Hardinge  and  Gongh  made  peers — Law- 
rence suppresses  a  revolt  in  Kashmir,  October,  1846 — Banish- 
ment of  Lai  Singh — Treaty  of  Bhairowal,  26th  December — 
Lord  Hardinge's  home  poHcy — Progress  of  the  Ganges  Canal 
— First  surveys  for  Indian  railways,  1846 — Private  enterprise — 
Native  education  —  Local  disturbances,  1846-48 — Retirement 
of  Lord  Hardinge,  March,  1848 323 


HISTORY    OF    INDU. 


BOOK  VI. 

CONSOLIDATION   OF   ENGLISH   RULE, 


CHAPTER  I. 

I-ORD    DALHOUSIE,    1848 1856. 

Lord  Dalhoasie  lands  in  India,  January,  1848 — Rising  of  Mulraj  at 
Multan,  April — Murder  of  Anderson  and  Vans  Agnew — Delay 
ia  Bending  troops  against  Mulraj — Edwardes  and  Cortlandt 
take  the  field — Mulraj  thrice  defeated,  June — Multan  besieged 
by  General  Whish,  7th  September — Desertion  of  Shir  Singh — 
Suspension  of  the  siege — Spread  of  revolt  in  the  Panj^b — Lord 
Dalhousie  declares  war  with  the  Siihs,  October — The  Afghans 
join  the  Sikhs — The  siege  of  Multan  renewed,  27th  December 
— Mulraj  surrenders  the  citadel,  2?nd  January,  1849 — Skirmish 
at  Kamnagar,  22nd  November,  1848 — Thackwell  repulses  the 
Sikhs  at  Sadiilapur,  2nd  December — Gough  engages  the  Sikhs 
at  Chihanwala,  13th  January,  1849 — Defeat  of  the  enemy — 
Heavy  loss  of  the  victors — Shir  Singh's  flank  march  on  Lahdr 
— The  Sikhs  entrenched  at  Gujarat. — Battle  of  Gujarat,  2l8t 
February,  1849 — Storming  of  Kalra — Utter  rout  of  the  Sikhs 
— Gilbert's  chase  of  the  Sikhs  and  Afghans — The  surrender  at 
Kawal  Pindi,  March — Flight  of  the  Afghans  beyond  the  Khai- 
bar — Annexation  of  the  Panjab,  29th  March — The  new  Board 
of  Administration  under  Sir  Henry  Lawrence — Good  results  of 
the  new  rule — Mutiny  in  some  Bengal  regiments,  1850 — Sir  C. 
Napier  resigns  the  chief  command — Origin  of  the  second  Bur- 
mese war,  1852 — General  Godwin  approaches  Rangoon,  April 
— Capture  of  Rangoon  and  other  places,  April-June — Godwin's 
advance  to  Prome,  October — Sir  J.  Cheape  captures  Donabyii, 
January,  1853 — Negotiations  for  peace — Annexation  of  Pegu, 
1853 — Pegu  under  Colonel  Phayre — Absorption  of  Satira,  1848 
— Absorption  Oi  Nagpur,  1853 — Absorption  of  Jhansi — The 
question  of  Karanli — The  Nana  Dhiindii  Pant  and  his  claims — 


CONTENTS.  SXSIS 

Cession  of  Berir  in  pledge  by  the  Nizam,  1853 — Dalhonsie's 
answer  to  the  Eajah  of  Maisdr,  1856 — Progress  of  misrale  in 
Audh — Warnings  of  saccessive  Govemois-General — Opinions 
of  Sleeman  and  Oatram — Dalhousie's  general  agreement  with 
them  both — Complete  annexation  ordered  from  home — The 
King  of  Andh  formally  dethroned,  7th  February,  1856 — Rising 
of  the  Santals,  July,  1855 — Their  ravages  and  final  suppression 
— Dalhousie's  administrative  genius — Sir  John  Lawrence,  Chief 
Commissioner  of  the  Panjab,  1853 — Progress  of  public  works 
— Opening  of  the  Ganges  Canal,  Sth  April,  1854 — Reward 
bestowed  on  Colonel  Cautley — Canals  in  the  Panjab — Extent 
of  Dalhousie's  reforms — A  cheap  uniform  postage — Progress 
of  telegraphs  under  Dr.  O'Shaughnessy — New  system  of  admi- 
nistrative reports — Spread  of  railways — Progress  of  education 
— Renewal  of  the  Company's  Charter,  1853 — Remodelling  of 
the  Court  of  Directors — The  Indian  Civil  Sen-ice  opened  to 
public  competition — Bengal  obtains  a  Lieutenant-Governor — 
Dalhousie's  farewell  minutes — His  final  retirement,  March. 
1856— His  death,  1860 335 


CHAPTER  n. 

LORD    CANNING,    1856 1862. 

Lord  Canning's  arrival  in  India,  29th  February,  1856 — Macanlay's 
Penal  Code  taken  up  by  Mr.  Peacock— Enlistment  for  general 
service — New  terms  imposed  on  the  Dehli  Princes — War  with 
Persia— Capture  of  Bushir,  December,  1856— Outram's  victory 
at  Khushab,  Sth  February,  1857 — Further  successes,  March — 
Peace  concluded  with  the  Shah,  4th  March- Signs  of  coming 
danger  to  the  English  in  India,  1857 — Prevalence  of  strange 
reports — Plotters  at  work — Spread  of  lying  rumours — Weak 
state  of  the  English  garrisons — Restlessness  of  the  Bengal 
Sepoys — The  story  of  the  greased  cartridges,  1857 — Strange 
proceedings  of  the  Sepoys  —  Mutiny  of  the  19th  N.I.,  26th 
February — Punishment  of  the  mutineers — Outbreak  at  Bar- 
rackpore,  29th  March— Spread  of  disaffection— Wild  stories 
— The  mysterious  chapdthis — Mutiny  in  Audh,  2nd  May — 
Its  suppression  by  Sir  H.  Lawrence — Mutiny  and  massacres 

at  Meerut,  10th  May — Inaction  of  the  English  commanders 

Rising  and  murders  at  Dehli,  1 1th  May — WUloughby's  brave 

defence  of  the   arsenal — Flight  of  the  surviving  EngUsh 

Timely  warnings  to  other  stations — Prompt  aedon  of  the 
English  in  the  Panjib — Disarming  of  Sepoys  at  Lah6r  and 
Peshawar — Punishment  of  the  Marddn  mutineers — Loyalty  of 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

the  people  in  the  Panjab — Good  conduct  of  some  native  princes 
— Friendliness  of  Dost  Mohammad — Sir  J.  Lawrence  sends  help 
across  the  Satlaj — Progress  of  revolt  in  May  and  June — The 
Rani  of  Jhansi's  cruel  revenge — State  of  things  in  Audh,  May 
— Sad  plight  of  the  Cawnpore  garrison,  June — Havoc  in  the 
North-Westem  Provinces — Measures  taken  by  Lord  Canning — 
Panic  in  Culcutta — Colonel  NeiU  at  Ban^ras,  June — His  ar- 
rival at  Allahabad,  Uth  June — Havelock  starts  from  Allaha- 
bad, 7th  July — He  twice  defeats  the  Nana — The  English  re- 
enter Cawnpore,  I7thJuly — Sufferings  and  fate  of  Wheeler's 
garrison,  June-July — Escape  of  four  survivors  350 


CHAPTER  m. 
LORD  CANNING  {contitiued). 

Defeat  of  the  rebels  at  Badli  Serai,  8th  Jane — Siege  of  Dehli  by  Sir 
Henry  Barnard — Death  of  Sir  H.  Barnard — Hlness  of  General 
Reed — Brigadier  Wilson  takes  the  command,  July — Snccoura 
from  the  Panjab — Nicholson's  arrival  in  camp,  August — Sout 
of  the  rebels  at  Najafgarh,  25th  August — Critical  state  of 
affairs  in  India — Arrival  of  troops  from  Ceylon  and  the  Cape 
— Progress  of  Major  Eyre — State  of  things  inside  Dehli,  Sep- 
tember— The  heavy  batteries  open  fire  on  the  city,  11th  Sep- 
tember— Advance  of  the  stoiming  columns,  14th  September — 
Nicholson  mortally  wounded — Final  capture  of  the  whole  city, 
20th  September — The  King  of  Delhi  taken  prisoner,  21st  Sep- 
tember— Fate  of  the  Dehli  princes — Trial  of  the  King,  March, 
1858 — His  sentence  commuted  to  transportation — The  conquest 
of  Dehli  a  wonderful  feat — Lawrence's  share  therein — The 
rebellion  receives  a  death-blow — Defence  of  Lucknow,  July 
to  September,  1857 — Death  of  Sir  H.  Lawrence,  4th  July — 
Endurance  of  the  besieged — Outram's  march  from  Cawnpore, 
19th  September — Storming  of  the  Alambagh,  23rd  September 
— Havelock  enters  the  Lucknow  Residency,  25th  September — 
Sir  Colin  Campbell  approaches  Lucknow,  November — Slaughter 
of  rebels  at  the  Sikandar  Bagh,  16th  November — BeKef  and 
withdrawal  of  the  Lucknow  garrison,  25th  November — Wind- 
ham at  Cawnpore — Campbell  comes  to  his  rescue,  28th  Novem- 
ber— Rout  of  the  Gwalior  rebels,  6th  December — Their  pursuit 
and  dispersion,  9th  December — Fresh  victories  under  Osborne 
and  Stewart — Punishment  of  captured  rebels — Canning's  merci- 
ful policy — Limited  character  of  the  rebellion — Good  fruits  of 
Canning's  interference — Progress  of  the  English  arms — Camp- 


CONTENTS.  xH 

bell'fl  second  advance  on  Lucknow,  2nd  March,  1858 — Final 
capture  of  the  city,  10th  March — Death  of  Hodson  and  Peel — 
English  successes  in  Rohilkhand,  May-June — Suppression  of 
revolt  in  Bahar — Re-conquest  of  all  Audh,  December — Pro- 
gress of  Tantia  Topi,  1858 — Whitlock's  successes  in  Bundal- 
khand — Sir  Hugh  Rose  in  Central  India — Capture  of  Gara- 
kotah,  11th  February — Storming  of  Chande'ri,  17th  March — 
Defeat  of  Tantia  Topi  at  the  Betwah,  1st  April — Capture  of 
Jhansi,  3rd  April — Defeat  of  the  Rani  at  Kiinch,  7th  May — 
Capture  of  Kalpi  by  Sir  H.  Rose,  23rd  May— Sindia'a  flight 
from  Gwalior,  1st  June — Re-capture  of  Gwalior  by  Sir  H.  Rose, 
20th  June — Rout  of  the  rebels  by  Napier,  21st  June — Review 
of  Sir  H.  Rose's  achievements 361 


Xlii  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


BOOK  VII. 

INDIA  UNDER  THE  CROWN. 


CHAPTER  I. 

LORD    CANNING (^COJlcluded.) 

State  of  affaire  from  June  to  December,  1858 — Captm-e  and  execu- 
tion of  Tilntia  Topi,  April,  1859 — Punishment  of  the  eurviving 
mutineers  and  leading  rebels — Political  extinction  of  the  East 
India  Company,  2nd  August,  1858 — New  gOTemment  of  India 
by  the  Crown — Pension  voted  to  Sir  John  Lawrence — Last 
words  on  the  Company's  rule — Gradual  undermining  of  its 
power — The  new  rule  proclaimed  throughout  India,  1st  Nov- 
ember, 1868 — The  hopes  to  which  it  gave  birth — Honours  and 
rewards  bestowed  on  the  victors — The  rewarding  of  loyal 
natives — The  new  Legislative  Council,  1S61 — Lord  Canning's 
"  Sanads  " — Amalgamation  of  Supreme  and  Sadr  Courts,  1861 
— Native  judges  admitted  to  the  High  Courts — Macaulay's 
Penal  Code  made  law,  1861 — Wilson's  financial  reforms,  1860 
— Mr.  Laing  succeeds  him — Riots  in  the  Indigo  districts, 
1860-61 — Famine  in  Upper  India,  1861 — Death  of  Colonel 
Baird  Smith — Great  Darbar  at  Allahibad,  November,  1861 — 
The  new  Order  of  the  Star  of  India — Lord  Canning's  retire- 
ment, 1862 — His  death  and  character — Progress  of  public 
works — India's  foreign  trade — Commercial  progress  in  Bom- 


375 


CHAPTER  n. 

LORD    ELGIN    AND    SIR    JOHN    LAWRENCE,    1862 1869. 

Lord  Elgin  Governor-General.  1862 — His  jonmey  through  the  upper 
provinces,  1863 — His  untimely  death,  20th  November,  1863 — 


CONTENTS.  Xliii 

The  Sit^a  campaign,  October — Critical  position  of  our  troops, 
November — Sir  W.  Denison's  timely  interference — Storming  of 
Ambela,  December — Destruction  of  Malka,  and  end  of  the  war 
— Sir  John  Lawrence  Governor-General,  January,  1864 — His 
first  Darbar  at  Labor,  November,  1864 — Failure  of  Mr.  Eden's 
mission  to  Bhotan,  I860 — War  with  Bhotan,  November,  1864 
— Its  successful  issue,  1865 — Waghir  rising  in  Katiawar,  1868 

Wylde's  march  to  the  Black  Mountain,  October — Napier's 

Abyssinian  campaign,  1868 — Death  of  Dost  Mohammad,  1863 
— Civil  war  between  his  sons — Sir  John  Lawrence's  neutral 
attitude — Shir  Ali  established  at  Kabul,  December,  1868 — 
India's  internal  progress — Growth  of  the  cotton  trade  in 
Western  and  Central  India — The  commercial  crash  in  Bom- 
bay, 1865 — Partial  character  of  its  etiects — Progress  of  the 
Central  Provinces  under  Sir  R.  Temple — British  Burmah  under 
Sir  Arthur  Phayre — Progress  in  Audh — Tenant-rights  secured 
in  Audh,  1866— The  Panjab  under  Sir  D.  McLeod— The  North- 
western Provinces — Good  effects  of  canal  irrigation — The 
famine  in  Orissa,  1866 — Great  loss  of  life — Lord  Napier  at 
Madras — Maisdr  saved  from  famine,  1867 — Growth  of  India's 
foreign  trade — Increase  of  Indian  revenues — Railways  and 
irrigation  works — Building  of  banacks  and  fortified  posts — 
Sanitary  improvements — Municipal  committees  first  formed — 
Reforms  in  the  police  and  the  jails — Progress  of  popular  educa- 
tion— Normal  schools,  and  schools  for  girls — Native  zeal  for 
education — The  Indian  Forest  Department — First  appointment 
of  a  Cotton  Commissioner — Progress  of  telegraphs — Trade 
concessions  of  native  rulera — Captain  Sladen's  mission  to 
Bhamo,  1868 — Retirement  of  Sir  J.  Lawrence,  January,  1869 
— His  last  measures — He  obtains  a  peerage 382 


CHAPTER  m. 

LORD  MAYO  AND  LORD  NORTHBROOK,  1869 1873. 

The  Earl  of  Mayo  Governor-General,  1869 — His  meeting  with  Shir 
Ali,  March — Its  good  results — Distress  in  Eajputana — The 
Bardwan  fever — Lord  Mayo's  retrenchments — The  income-tax 
doubled,  October,  1869— Trebling  of  the  tax,  April,  1870— Its 
mischievous  effects — Popular  outcry  against  it — Prince  Alfred's 
visit  to  Calcutta,  December,  1869 — The  great  Calcutta  Darbar 
— The  Prince's  progress  through  India,  1870 — Opening  of  the 
Jabalpur  Railway,  7th  March — Beginning  of  State  railways — 
Progress  on  the  guai-antecd  lines — Public  works  and  education 


xliv  HISTORY   OF   INDIA. 

— The  new  Department  of  Trade  and  Agricultore,  1870 — Coal- 
mines in  the  Wardah  Valley — Death  of  Sir  Henry  Durand, 
January,  1871 — Loshai  raid  into  Kachar — Expedition  against 
the  Loshais,  November — Its  successful  issue,  February,  1872 — 
Trial  of  Amir  Khan,  the  Wahjibi — Kiika  rising  in  Sirhind, 
January,  1872— Its  merciless  suppression — Lord  ilayo's  Afghan 
policy^-Settlement  of  the  Khelit  and  Sistan  botmdaries  by  Sir 
F.  Goldsmid — Lord  Slayo's  foreign  policy — His  treatment  of 
native  feudatories — His  energy  and  love  of  hard  work — His 
zeal  for  India's  welfare — Progress  of  legislation — The  Panjab 
Tenancy  Act — Indian  Marriage  Act — Coolie  emigration — Road 
and  school  cesses  in  Bengal — New  rules  for  the  Indian  Coun- 
cil, 1869 — New  powers  conferred  on  the  local  governments, 
1871 — Lord  Mayo's  voyage  to  Rangoon  and  Maulmain,  January, 
1872 — He  visits  the  Andaman  Islands,  February — His  murder 
by  a  convict,  8th  February — The  general  sorrow  in  India  for 
his  loss — Lord  Napier  acts  in  his  stead — Lord  Northbrook 
Governor'  General,  May — His  advice  to  the  Khan  of  Khiva — 
His  tour  through  Upper  and  Western  India — His  careful  study 
of  fiscal  questions — Abolition  of  the  income-tax,  March,  1873 — 
Settlement  of  the  Afghan  frontier — Lord  Northbrook's  dealings 
with  Shir  Ali — Mr.  Forsyth's  mission  to  Kashgar — Sir  Bartle 
Frere's  mission  to  Zanzibar,  1872 — The  Sultan  agrees  to  suppress 
the  slave-trade,  1873 — Lord  Northbrook's  administration — The 
Parliamentary  Committee  on  Indian  Finance — Greneral  outlook 
in  India,  December,  1873 — Dark  spots — Good  results  of  English 
rule — Its  beneficial  character  in  the  present — Encouragement 
of  native  efforts — India's  moral  progress — Influence  of  Chris- 
tian ideas — Decline  of  old  prejudices  and  customs — ^New  social 
movements 391 


INTRODUCTION, 


The  empire  now  ruled  by  the  Viceroy  of  India  includes 
not  only  the  great  Indian  peninsula  stretching  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Himalayas,  from  the  valley  of  the  Indus  to 
that  of  the  Brahmaputra,  but  also  the  long  strip  of 
country  which  borders  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Bay  of 
Bengal,  from  Arakan  to  the  Malay  peninsula.  This  vast 
area  of  nearly  1,600,000  square  mUes  equals  that  of  all 
Europe  outside  Russia.  From  the  northernmost  comer  of 
the  Panjab  to  Cape  Comorin  in  the  south  its  greatest 
length  is  about  1,830  miles,  whUe  its  breadth  eastward 
from  Karachi,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Indus,  to  Rangoon  on 
the  Irawadi,  is  even  gi-eater.  The  great  mountain-wall  of 
the  Himalayas,  which  forms  its  northern  boundary,  curves 
away  from  the  Yang-tse  river  westward  to  the  Hindu 
Khush  and  the  Sulaiman  Hills,  dividing  India  from  Giina, 
Tibet,  and  Turkistan.  The  Sulaiman  and  Hala  ranges 
shut  out  the  Panjab  and  Sindh  from  their  western  neigh- 
bours iu  Afghanistan  and  Baluchistan.  On  the  east  the 
Yomadung  and  Tenasserim  ranges,  carried  on  by  the 
Patkoi  Hills  to  the  Eastern  Himalayas,  mark  oif  the 
western  boundaries  of  Burmah  and  Siam.  The  whole 
length  of  coast-line  from  Karachi  to  the  southernmost 
point  of  Tenasserim  has  been  reckoned  at  nearly  -1,000 
miles,  while  the  extent  of  land-frontier  is  some  hundred 
miles  longer. 


Xlvi  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

From  the  wild  recesses  of  the  towering  Himalayas  flow 
down  the  sources  of  the  great  rivers,  the  Indus,  the 
Ganges,  the  Brahmaputra,  which  find  their  several  outlets 
in  the  Arabian  Sea  and  the  Bay  of  Bengal.  Each  of 
them  on  its  long  course  to  the  ocean  is  fed  by  numerous 
streams,  of  a  volume  sometimes  equalling  its  own.  Two 
nearly  parallel  ranges  of  hiUs,  the  Vindhya  and  the  Sat- 
piira,  stretching  eastward  from  the  Gulf  of  Cambay  to  the 
valley  of  the  Lower  Ganges,  divide  India  itself  into  two 
unequal  parts,  Southern  India  forming  a  kind  of  triangle 
whose  point  is  Cape  Comorin,  with  the  double  line  of 
hUls  aforesaid  for  its  base.  At  its  western  end  the 
Vindhya  range  meets  the  Aravalli,  a  long,  low  chain  of 
hills  sweeping  north-eastward  across  Kajputana  almost  to 
Dehli.  In  the  east  it  merges  into  the  highlands  of  Orissa, 
Chota  Nagpiir,  and  BLrbhiim.  Again,  from  either  end 
two  chains  of  hiUs,  the  Eastern  and  Western  Ghats,  pass 
southwards  at  varying  distances  from  the  coast,  to  meet 
at  last  in  the  Nilgiri  or  Blue  Mountains  of  Malabar,  and 
to  re-appear  after  a  breach  of  twenty  miles  in  the  lofty 
hills  that  border  Travankor  and  touch  the  sea  at  Cape 
Comorin.  The  Western  Ghats  are  much  higher  than  the 
Eastern,  and  far  more  abrupt  on  their  seaward  face. 
Their  eastern  ridges  slope  into  the  table-lands  of  the 
Dakhan  and  Maisor,  or  serve  as  outworks  to  the  loftier 
Nilgiris,  even  as  the  lower  Sewaiik  range  seiwes  as  an 
outwork  to  the  Himalayas  between  the  Satlaj  and  the 
Ganges. 

From  the  wooded  heart  of  the  Vindhyas  the  Narbadha 
winds  along  its  rocky  bed,  past  the  rising  city  of  Jabalpiir, 
through  several  himdred  miles  of  rock  and  forest,  until  it 
reaches  the  Gulf  of  Cambay,  below  Baroch.  Enclosed 
between  the  Vindhya  and  Satpura  ranges  the  Narbadha 
valley  separates  Southern  India  from  Hindustan-  Proper. 
The  Tapti  flows  past  the  southern  slopes  of  the  Satpiiras 
into  the  same  gulf  a  little  below  Surat.     The  Godavari, 


INTRODUCTION.  xlvii 

on  the  other  hand,  after  leaving  the  Western  Ghats  neiir 
Nasik,  crosses  the  Nizam's  dominions,  and,  swollen  bj 
many  tributary  streams,  empties  itself  by  several  mouths 
into  the  Bay  of  Bengal  near  Kokonada.  The  Kistna  or 
Krishna  also  flows  from  the  Western  Ghats  near  Mahab- 
leshwar,  eastward  to  the  Coromandel  coast,  receiving  on 
its  way  the  Bhima  and  the  Tumbadra.  India  altogether 
abounds  in  rivers  great  and  small,  four  of  which,  including 
the  Irawadi,  are  more  than  a  thousand  miles  long,  while 
three  of  those  in  Southern  India  exceed  800  miles.  It 
can  boast,  however,  but  few  good  harbours,  chief  among 
which  are  Bombay,  Rangoon,  and  Maulmain.  Goa, 
another  good  harbour,  belongs  to  Portugal,  and  Karachi, 
the  port  of  Sindh,  has  yet  to  prove  itself  a  worthy  rival  of 
Bombay.  Karwar,  Cochin,  and  Viziadrug,  would  repay 
the  cost  of  improving  them.  The  approach  to  Calcutta  on 
the  HughU  is  rendered  dangerous  to  large  vessels  by  the 
"  WiUiam  and  Mary"  shoal. 

Of  the  few  lakes  which  India  possesses  nearly  all  are 
more  or  less  salt.  One  of  these,  the  great  Ran  of  Cntch, 
is  190  miles  long,  and  varies  in  breadth  from  two  to  ninety 
miles.  In  the  dry  season  a  waste  of  sand  dotted  with 
pools  of  salt  water,  it  becomes  in  the  rainy  season  an 
enormous  marsh.  From  some  of  these  lakes  large  quan- 
tities of  salt  are  manufactured.  A  long  tract  of  desert 
stretches  from  the  southern  border  of  Sindh  to  the  northern 
boundary  of  Rajputana.  Nearly  all  the  counti-y,  indeed, 
between  the  Indus  and  the  Ai-avalli  HUls  is  a  waste  of 
sand,  dotted  with  oases  of  varying  size  and  fertility.  The 
prevalence  of  sand  and  saltpetre  in  the  soil  of  Upper 
India  points  to  a  time  when  all  India  north  of  the  Vindhyas 
lay  buried  in  the  sea,  which  washed  the  feet  of  the  Himalayas 
themselves.  The  fertile  plains  now  watered  by  the  Ganges 
and  its  affluents  must  have  been  the  work  of  ages,  during 
which  the  Himalayan  rivers  kept  bringing  down  their 
yearly  loads  of  earth  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea.     It 


xlviii  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

appears  that  the  Himalayas  themselves,  whose  snowy  peaks 
now  soar  to  a  height  ranging  from  20,000  to  29,000  feet, 
have  gradually  been  upheaved  by  volcanic  agency  from 
their  ocean-beds. 

A  broad  bolt  of  marshy  jungle  deadly  to  human  life 
divides  these  mountains  from  the  adjacent  plains.  The 
forests  of  this  "  Terai  "  afford  ample  means  of  smelting 
the  iron  found  on  the  lower  slopes  of  the  hills.  Many 
parts  of  India  are  rich  in  forest  trees  suited  to  almost 
every  purpose  of  use  or  ornament.  The  teak  of  British 
Burmah,  the  Godavari  valley,  and  Malabar ;  the  bamboo  of 
Kamaun,  Bengal,  and  Southern  India ;  the  pines  and 
deodars  of  the  Himalayas  ;  the  sal,  ebony,  and  satin-wood 
of  Central  India  ;  the  sandal,  iron,  and  blackwood  of  Kiirg, 
Maisor,  and  other  districts  ;  the  oak  and  walnut-wood  of 
Sikhim  ;  the  India-rubber  tree  of  Assam ;  the  palm-trees 
of  the  tropics,  are  far  from  exhausting  the  list.  The  noble 
mango-groves  of  Hindustan  give  welcome  shade  to  the 
traveller  weary  with  marching  over  miles  of  sun-burnt 
plain,  and  the  banyan-tree  of  Bengal  grows  into  a  forest  by 
throwing  out  new  roots  from  its  spreading  branches. 
Cottages  are  thatched  with  palm-leaves,  and  houses  built 
with  scaffolding  made  of  bamboos.  Cocoa-nut  fibre  makes 
excellent  rigging,  and  cocoa-nut  oil  is  highly  prized  for 
lamps.  Bamboo  fibre  serves  for  mats  and  baskets  ;  a 
bamboo  stem  yields  the  lightest  of  lance-shafts,  while  one 
of  its  joints  does  good  duty  for  a  bottle.  Most  of  the 
houses  in  British  Burmah  are  built  entirely  of  wood. 
From  the  sap  of  the  palm-tree  is  brewed  the  tari  or  toddy 
which  forms  a  favourite  drink  among  certain  classes. 
Another  kind  of  palm  yields  the  betel-nut,  which  natives  of 
every  class  and  both  sexes  delight  to  chew.  The  sal  and 
deodar  are  largely  used  for  railway  sleepers,  and  in  dis- 
tricts where  coal  is  very  costly  forest  timber  serves  as  fuel 
for  steamers  and  railway  trains. 

All  over  India  there  are  two  harvests  yearly;  in  some 


INTRODUCTION. 


xHs 


places  tkree.  Bajra,  jowar,  rice,  and  some  other  grains 
are  sown  at  the  beginning  and  reaped  at  the  end  of  the 
rainy  season.  The  cold  weather  crops,  including  wheat, 
barley,  and  some  other  kinds  of  grain  and  pulse,  are  reaped 
in  the  spring.  It  is  a  vulgar  fallacy  that  the  people  of 
India  hve  on  rice.  The  very  opposite  notion  would  be 
nearer  the  truth.  Rice  is  grown  mainly  in  the  moist  cli- 
mate of  Bengal,  British  Burmah,  the  Kankan,  and  Malabar'. 
In  Hindustan  and  the  Panjab  the  staple  food  is  wheat  and 
millet ;  in  the  Dakhan  a  poor  kind  of  grain  called  ragi. 
Berar,  Khandesh,  and  Gujarat  yield  ample  crops  of  cotton. 
The  home  of  the  sugar-cane  is  in  Rohilkhand  and  Madras. 
The  poppy-fields  of  Malwa  and  Bengal  yield  the  opium 
which  swells  the  Indian  revenue  by  more  than  seven  mil- 
lions a-year.  Indigo  and  jute  are  mainly  raised  in  Bengal. 
Coffee  has  become  the  staple  product  of  the  hill  districts 
in  Kurg,  Wynaad,  and  the  Nilgh-is.  The  tea-gardens  of 
Assam,  Kachar,  Silliet,  and  the  southern  slopes  of  the 
Himalayas  from  Kangra  to  Darjiling,  furnish  much  of  the 
tea  which  now  finds  its  way  to  English  markets.  The 
quinine-yielding  cinchona  is  gi-owu  in  even  larger  forests 
on  the  Nilgiri  and  Daijiling  Hills.  Another  medicinal 
plant  of  great  value,  the  ipecacuanha,  bids  fair  to  thrive  in 
the  Sikhim  Terai.  Cardamoms  and  pepper  abound  along 
the  Western  Ghats,  hemp  and  linseed  are  largely  exported, 
and  tobacco  is  widely  gi-own  throughout  India. 

Of  fruits  and  vegetables  there  is  no  lack.  Mangoes, 
melons,  pumpkins,  guavas,  custard-apples,  plantains, 
oranges,  limes,  citrons,  and  pomegranates,  are  common 
everywhere ;  figs,  dates,  and  grapes  thrive  well  in  many 
places  ;  and  the  pine-apple  grows  wild  in  British  Burmah. 
Cucumbers,  yams,  tomatoes,  sweet  potatoes,  and  many 
vegetables  familiar  to  English  palates,  are  raised  abund- 
antly for  general  use.  Flowers  of  every  shape  and  hue, 
and  often  of  the  richest  scent,  from  the  rose  and  jasmine 
to  the   oleander  and  the  water-lily,   spangle  the  plains, 

d 


1  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

cover  tlie  surfaces  of  lakes  and  ponds,  or  glimmer  in 
climbing  beauty  among  the  woods.  The  rhododendrons 
of  the  Himalayas  grow  like  forest  trees,  and  crown  the 
hill-side  in  April  and  May  with  far-spreading  masses  of 
crimson  blossoms.  From  the  rose-gardens  of  Ghazipur  is 
extracted  the  attar,  a  few  drops  of  which  contain  the 
gathered  fragrance  of  a  thousand  flowers. 

The  jungles  teem  with  elephants,  bears,  wild  buffaloes, 
tigers,  leopards,  panthers,  and  hyaenas.  Wolyes  and  jackals 
prowl  among  the  ravines  in  quest  of  deer  and  other  prey. 
The  hon  is  chiefly  to  be  found  in  the  wilds  of  Rajputana  and 
Gujarat ;  the  camel  in  the  sandy  regions  of  the  North 
West ;  the  one-homed  rhinoceros  among  the  swamps  of 
the  Ganges.  Deer  of  many  kinds  aboimd  everywhere. 
Snakes,  poisonous  and  harmless,  haunt  the  jungles  and 
other  lonely  places.  Wild  boars  are  common.  Monkeys 
abound  in  most  parts  of  the  country.  The  rivers  swarm 
with  fish,  and  aUigators  bask  like  huge  lizards  along  their 
banks.  Horses  and  ponies  of  divers  breeds  are  used 
chiefly  for  riding,  while  the  fields  are  ploughed  and  the 
carts  and  carriages  of  the  country  are  drawn  by  bullocks  of 
the  Brahmani  type.  In  many  parts  of  India  oxen  still 
serve  as  earners  of  merchandise.  Buffaloes  are  usually 
kept  for  milk  and  ploughing.  Sheep  and  goats  are  very 
common,  and  the  Shal  goat  of  Kashmir  suppUes  the  soft 
pashmina  of  which  Indian  shawls  and  other  articles  of 
clothing  are  made. 

The  woods  re-echo  with  the  harsh  cry  of  the  peacock  and 
the  hvely  chattering  of  parrots,  woodpeckers,  and  other 
birds  of  gay  plumage ;  to  say  nothing  of  various  birds 
common  to  India  and  the  West.  Eagles  and  falcons  are 
found  in  some  places ;  kites,  vultures,  and  crows  abound 
everywhere.  The  gi-eat  adjutant  stork  of  Bengal  plays 
the  part  of  a  scavenger  in  the  most  populous  cities. 
Pheasants,  partridges,  ortolans,  quails,  snipes,  and  wild- 
geese  tempt  the  sportsman  at  certain  seasons.    The  sparrow 


njTBODUCTION.  U 

has  followed  the  Englishman  into  the  Himalayas.  In  one 
thing,  however,  India  is  sadly  wanting :  the  voice  of  song- 
birds is  almost  everywhere  mute. 

India  is  fairly  rich  in  minerals  of  various  kinds.  Her 
old  wealth  in  diamonds,  rubies,  and  other  gems  has  well- 
nigh  passed  away ;  but  of  less  valuable  stones,  such  as  opals, 
amethysts,  garnets,  jaspers,  cornelians,  she  still  yields  a 
goodly  shai-e.  Gold  in  small  quantities  may  be  found  in 
the  gravels  of  many  streams.  Silver  combined  with  lead 
exists  in  the  mines  of  Kulu  on  the  northern  frontier  of  the 
Panjab.  Lead  mines  have  been  opened  in  the  north- 
western Himalayas  Kich  veins  of  tin  have  lately  been 
discovered  in  Tenasserim  and  Martaban.  Antimony  and 
copper  abound  in  the  hiU  ranges.  Petroleum  is  known  to 
exist  in  Pegu  and  Assam.  Vast  beds  of  rock-salt  occur  in 
the  Panjab  hUls.  The  mountains  of  Southern  India  are 
largely  composed  of  granite,  while  excellent  marble  is 
quarried  from  the  AravaUi  range. 

L-on  ores  have  been  found  in  many  parts  of  the  country, 
notably  in  Kamaun,  Bundalkhand,  the  Central  Provinces, 
and  Lower  Bengal.  In  the  Chanda  district  the  surface  of 
a  hiU  two  miles  long  and  half-a-roile  broad  is  covered  with 
masses  of  pure  iron  ore.  The  iron  beds  in  the  Kamaun 
hiUs  extend  for  miles,  and  the  clay  of  the  Damiida 
coal-fields  contains  39  per  cent,  of  iron.  From  the  growing 
scarcity  of  charcoal  for  smelting  purposes  the  native  manu- 
facture of  iron  is  fast  declining,  and  the  attempts  of 
EngUshmen  in  the  same  field  have  hitherto  been  baflled  by 
the  same  and  other  causes.  A  substitute  for  charcoal, 
however,  may  yet  be  found  in  coal,  large  beds  of  which 
extend  from  Rajmahal  on  the  Ganges  south  to  the  Goda- 
vari,  and  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Calcutta  westward  to 
the  Narbadha  valley.  The  coal-bearing  rocks  of  the 
Damiida  valley,  covering  1,500  square  miles  of  ground, 
contain  thick  seams  of  coal,  whose  yield  already  amounts 
to  half-a-million  tons  a  year.  From  the  Kurhurbari 
\i2 


lii  HISTORY    01-    INDIA. 

coal-fields  north-westward  of  Raniganj  half  that  quantity 
could  he  supplied  for  800  years.  There  are  thick  seams 
of  coal  in  the  Narhadha  valley.  On  the  edge  of  the  great 
sandstone  tract  watered  by  the  Godavari  and  the  Warda 
some  promising  beds  have  lately  been  examined ;  and 
over  wide  spaces  in  Berar  and  the  Central  Provinces  seams 
of  great  thickness,  and  of  a  quality  good  enough  for 
railway  purposes,  give  fair  promise  of  vast  additions  to 
India's  store  of  fuel.  The  easternmost  end  of  Assam  also, 
where  the  Brahmaputra  emerges  from  the  hills  into  the 
forest-clad  wilds  of  Dibrugarh,  contains  several  seams  of 
excellent  coal. 

According  to  the  census  of  1872,  British  India,  as  apart 
from  the  tributary  native  states,  now  contains  an  aggregate 
population  of  about  192  million  souls,  of  whom  about 
two-thu'ds  live  by  husbandry  alone.  Of  this  vast  number, 
excelled  only  by  the  population  of  China,  nearly  67 
millions  are  claimed  for  Bengal  Proper  and  Assam,  with 
an  average  density  of  290  to  the  square  mUe  over  an  area 
of  more  than  240,000  square  mUes.  With  due  allowance 
for  the  thinly  peopled  districts  of  Assam  and  Chota 
Nagpur,  the  average  for  the  older  provinces,  including 
Orissa,  may  be  taken  at  360  to  the  square  mile.  IS  Orissa 
be  excluded,  it  ranges  from  430  in  Bengal  Proper  to  465 
in  Bahar. 

In  the  North-Western  Provinces  there  are  30J  millions  of 
people  spread  over  a  surface  of  about  81,000  square  miles, 
or  Uttle  less  than  the  whole  area  of  England,  Wales,  and 
Ireland.  To  each  square  mile  we  have  therefore  an 
average  of  380  souls,  which  exceeds  that  of  Great  Britain. 
The  average  for  Audh,  with  about  11}  millions  to  an  area 
of  nearly  24,000  square  miles,  about  the  extent  of  Holland 
and  Belgium  together,  equals  that  of  Bahar.  The  Panjab, 
including  Kashmir  and  Sirhind,  covers  an  extent  of  more 
than  200,000  square  miles,  a  surface  equal  to  that  of 
France.     About  half  of  this,   however,  belongs  to  native 


INTRODUCTION.  lii'l 

rulers.  The  remainder  contains  a  total  of  more  than  17i 
million  souls,  at  an  average  of  173  to  the  square  mile. 
In  British  Burmah  some  2^  million  people  are  scattered 
over  an  area  of  93,664  square  miles.  Madras  shows  a 
population  of  about  31 1  millions,  covering  a  surface  of 
141, 7-46  square  miles,  a  good  deal  larger  than  the  whole 
of  the  British  Islands.  The  29,000  square  mOes  of 
Maisor  and  Kiirg  contain  about  51  million  souls.  Bombay, 
including  Sindh,  counts  rather  more  than  14  millions  on 
127,532  square  mOes.  The  Central  Provinces  show  an 
area  of  about  84,000  square  miles,  peopled  by  rather  more 
than  9  million  souls,  while  Berar  contains  nearly  2^ 
millions  over  a  space  of  about  17,000  square  mOes.  To 
these  192  millions  must  be  added  some  48  million  people" 
ruled  by  about  two  hundred  chiefs  and  princes,  great  and 
small,  whose  joint  possessions  cover  an  area  of  more  than 
half-a-miUion  square  miles  from  Kashmir  to  Travankor. 

Of  the  people  ruled  directly  by  the  Indian  Government 
some  130  millions  are  Hindus  by  religion,  and  several  mil- 
lions more  are  probably  Hindus  by  race.  The  Mohammadans 
of  all  races,  Aryan,  Semitic,  and  Mongol,  may  be  reckoned 
at  40  milhons,  most  of  whom  profess  the  Siini  or  Turkish 
form  of  Islam.  The  Shia  sect  are  chiefly  to  be  found  iu 
the  Dakhan  and  Kashmir.  In  Bengal  the  Mohammadans 
exceed  2,0h  millions,  the  great  bulk  of  whom  are  to  be 
found  in  the  Central  and  Eastern  districts  as  husbandmen 
or  landholders,  while  comparatively  few  inhabit  the  old 
centres  of  Mohammadan  power.  In  Bengal,  as  in  Kashmir, 
the  Mohammadan  numbers  seem  to  be  largely  swelled  by 
former  converts  from  among  the  low-caste  Hindus.  In 
the  Panjab  there  are  9^  million,  in  the  North- Western 
Provinces  about  41  miUion  followers  of  Islam.  In  Audh 
they  number  only  a  million,  and  iu  the  Central  Provinces 
barely  a  quarter  of  that  amount.     In  the  Panjab,  on  the 

*  These  numbers,  however,  must  be  taken  provisionally,  as  founded 
on  guess  work  rather  than  accurate  data. 


liv  niSTOEY    Of    IN'DIA. 

other  hand,  there  arc  9  million  Mohammadans  to  G  million 
Hindus,  and  little  more  than  a  million  Sikhs.  More 
than  2  million  people  in  British  Burmah  are  Buddhists. 

The  aboriginal  or  prehistoric  races  scattered  everywhere 
among  the  hills  and  forests  are  supposed  to  number  about 
12  millions,  a  fifth  of  whom  people  the  highlands  of  the 
Central  Provinces,  whUe  perhaps  as  many  more  are  found 
in  Malwa  and  Kiindesh.  In  the  hUls  of  Orissa,  Chota 
Nagpur,  Birbhiim,  Assam,  and  Kachsir,  they  are  also 
numerous.  The  Jains,  an  offshoot  from  Buddhism, 
number  only  a  few  hundred  thousand.  The  Parsis, 
descendants  of  Persian  Fire-worshippers,  if  few  in  num- 
bers, fill  a  front  place  in  the  commercial  doings  of  Western 
India.  Christians  of  all  sects  and  races  may  be  set  down 
at  a  niUlion  and  a  quarter,  the  great  bulk  of  whom  are 
Roman  Catholics,  owing  allegiance  to  the  Archbishop  of 
Goa. 

In  a  country  which  extends  from  the  eighth  to  the 
thirty-fifth  degree  of  north  latitude  the  climate  varies,  not 
only  with  the  differences  of  relative  position,  but  with 
those  also  of  local  surface  and  surroundings.  The  dry 
heats  of  the  Upper  Provinces  differ  from  the  moist  heats 
of  Bengal  and  part  of  Southern  India  as  a  furnace  diflers 
from  a  vapour-bath.  There  are  large  tracts  of  country  in 
Sindh,  the  Panjab,  and  Rajpntana,  where  rain  seldom  falls, 
and  the  thermometer  rises  to  120°  in  the  shade.  In  the 
North-Western  Provinces  and  Gujarat  the  rainfall  varies 
from  15  to  30  inches,  most  of  it  falling  in  about  thi-ee 
months.  A  zone  of  light  rainfall  passes  down  the  middle 
of  Southern  India.  The  eastern  coast  is  generally  hotter 
and  drier  than  the  western,  which  receives  the  full  force  of 
the  south-west  monsoon  from  June  to  September.  From  the 
Brahmaputra  valley  down  to  Maulmain  the  heat  in  these 
months  is  greatly  tempered  by  heavy  and  continuous  rains, 
which  fall  in  some  places  to  a  depth  of  more  than  a 
hundi-ed  inches,  and  convert  the  country  into  a  sea  studded 


INTRODUCTION. 


h 


with  islands.  In  the  Ivhasia  Hills  600  inches  of  rain  have 
been  measured  in  the  year.  In  Lower  Bengal  and  Orissa 
the  rain-swoUen  rivers  flood  the  country  far  and  wide. 
On  the  table-lands  of  the  Dakhan  and  Central  India  hot 
days  are  followed  by  cool  nights.  Along  the  lofty  slopes 
of  the  Himalayas  and  the  wood-crowned  ridges  of  the 
Nilgiris,  the  rain  pours  heavily  with  few  intervals  for 
several  months.  Along  the  coast  sea-breezes  also  serve  to 
temper  the  heat.  Over  the  sandy  plains  of  Northern 
India  the  day  west  wind  blows  from  March  to  the  middle 
of  June  with  the  fury  of  a  sirocco,  relieved  at  times  by  a 
simoom  or  sandstorm,  which  turns  day  into  night  for  an 
hour  or  more,  and  cools  the  air  for  some  days  afterwards. 
From  July  to  October  the  showers  in  these  regions  are 
followed  by  intervals  of  close,  steamy  heat,  which  finally 
give  place  to  three  or  four  months  of  clear,  cool,  bright 
weather,  with  frequent  frost  at  night,  and  mornings  often 
cold  enough  for  a  fii'e.  In  the  hill-stations,  where  the 
summer  heat  is  generally  moderate,  the  resemblance  to  an 
English  winter  is  heightened  by  frequent  falls  of  snow. 
Within  the  tropics,  on  the  other  hand,  the  cold  season, 
except  on  some  of  the  higher  mountains,  answers  on  the 
whole  to  a  mild  September  in  our  own  country. 

The  languages  and  dialects  used  or  spoken  in  India 
exceed  in  number  and  variety  those  of  all  Europe.  The 
Aryan  languages  take  the  lead  by  right  of  then-  wide 
prevalence.  Of  the  dialects  which  have  gi-own  out  of  the 
parent  Sanskrit  there  are  at  least  a  dozen  separate  forms, 
of  which  Hindi,  the  most  purely  Aryan,  and  Urdu,  the 
mixed  language  of  the  law-courts  and  the  public  services, 
are  the  most  widely  used.  Each  of  the  gi'eat  provinces  in 
Upper  and  Western  India  has  its  own  dialect,  which 
differs  from  the  rest  much  as  English  differs  from  German 
or  Swedish.  In  Southern  India  the  Dravidian  languages, 
such  as  Tamil  and  Telugii,  which  belong  in  the  main  to 
some  old  non-Aryan   type,   are   spoken  by  about  thirty 


Ivi  HISTORV    OF    rXDIA. 

million  people.  In  the  Himulayan  valleys,  in  British 
Burmah,  and  on  the  eastern  frontier  of  Bengal,  some  form 
of  Indo-Chinese  or  Mongol  speech  is  generally  spoken. 
Arabic,  the  language  of  the  Koran,  and  Persian,  the 
language  of  Moghal  state  officers  and  Anglo-Indian  law- 
eou]-ts  in  former  days,  have  enriched  the  Urdii  of  our  day 
with  a  large  stock  of  serviceable  words  and  phrases. 


HISTORY     OF    INDIA. 

BOOK  I. 

INDIA  BEFORE  THE  MOHAMMADAN  CONQUEST. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   AEYAN    HINDUS. 

The  circumstances  which  mark  the  rise  and  progi-ess  of 
England's  empire  in  Southern  Asia  have  no  precise  pa- 
rallel in  any  other  page  of  the  world's  known  history. 
Nowhere  else  has  the  world  beheld  so  strange  aud  fruitful 
an  outcome  from  beginnings  apparently  so  small.  Mace- 
don,  Rome,  Arabia,  have  each  in  its  turn  made  mighty 
conquests  in  a  wonderfully  short  space  of  time.  The 
Spaniards,  in  the  course  of  one  or  two  generations,  be- 
came masters  of  half  the  New  World.  The  hordes  of 
Tamerlane,  issuing  from  Samarkhand,  overran  Asia  in 
a  few  years.  In  our  own  century  half  Eui'ope  bowed  her 
head  for  a  season  at  the  feet  of  the  First  Napoleon.  India 
herself  for  more  than  two  hundred  years  obeyed  successive 
kings  of  the  house  of  Babar.  In  all  these  cases  either  the 
ground  won  at  first  by  force  of  arms  was  speedily  lost 
again,  or  else  its  further  retention  was  mainly  due  to  the 
settlements  founded  thereon  by  the  conquerors  themselves. 


2  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

British  India  alono  presents  the  spectacle  of  a  vast  do- 
minion conquered  during  the  last  hundred  years  by  the 
servants  of  a  trading  company,  whose  one  great  aim  was 
to  increase  its  dividends,  and  upheld  by  a  few  thousand 
Engl'.shmen  encamping  in  the  midst  of  more  than  two 
hundred  million  natives.  Nowhere  else  has  so  wide  a 
sway  over  so  many  populous  and  civilised  states  been 
wielded  with  a  grasp  so  firm  by  a  mere  handful  of  fo- 
reigners, strange  alike  in  speech,  manners,  religion,  sent 
forth  from  one  of  the  coldest  to  one  of  the  hottest  quarters 
of  the  earth,  and  debarred  by  causes  more  or  less  invin- 
cible from  founding  families  of  their  own  or  of  a  mixed 
blood  in  a  climate  peculiarly  hurtful  to  English  Life. 

How  much  of  the  seeming  marvel  sprang  from  sources 
in  no  way  marvellous,  the  following  pages  may  help  to 
show.  For  that  end  it  will  not  be  enough  to  begin  with 
the  first  days  of  British  settlement  in  India.  The  true 
way  to  a  clear  understanding  of  later  events  leads  far  back 
through  the  Christian  centuries  into  the  twilight  of  pre- 
historic times.  There  is  no  real  break  in  Indian  history 
from  the  era  of  the  Vedas  until  now.  For  all  the  changes 
that  have  been  wrought  by  time  and  circumstance,  the 
India  of  to-day  reproduces  in  its  main  outlines  the  India 
of  twenty  or  thirty  centui-ies  ago.  Out  of  the  two  hundred 
and  forty  millions  who  directly  or  indirectly  obey  our  rule, 
more  than  a  half  may  claim  descent  from  those  Aryan 
conquerors  who,  long  before  Hellas  defied  the  Persian, 
were  pushing  the  earlier  races  of  Hindustan  back  into 
those  sheltering  hills  and  forests  where  their  descendants 
may  still  be  found.*  The  history  of  that  olden  civilisation 
has  been  written  for  us,  not  in  chronicles  like  those  which 
form  the  boast  of  Mohammadan  India,  but  in  the  sacred 

*  The  d:ite  of  the  events  apparently  recorded  in  the  oldest  Hindu 
epic,  the  Eiimayan,  is  placed  by  Sir  W.  Jones  in  the  21st,  by  Tod  in 
the  12th,  and  by  Bentley  in  the  10th  century  before  Christ.— Griffith's 
"  Kamayan,"  translated  into  English  verso. 


THE    ARYAN    HINDUS.  '3 

writings  of  Sanskrit-speaking  Hindus,  and  in  poems  which 
pourtray  the  social  Ufe  of  pre-historic  India  as  vividly  as 
Homer  pourtrayed  the  social  life  of  pre-historic  Greece. 
From  the  Vedas,  or  religious  hymns  of  the  Brahmans,  we 
learn  what  faiths  were  held,  what  gods  were  worshipped, 
what  rites  practised  by  the  Aryan  conquerors  of  Ancient 
India.  The  oldest  Vedas,  older  by  several  centuries  than 
the  Homeric  poems,*  reveal  to  modern  scholars  the  poetic 
sources  of  that  purely  natural  worship  which  marks  the 
childhood  of  all  human  races.  They  are  full  of  the  life- 
like symbolism  in  which  imaginative  minds  love  to  embody 
their  impressions  of  the  outer  world.  They  sing  the 
praises  of  the  "Deva,"  the  bright  divinities  of  Sun  and 
Dawn,  of  Fire,  Storm,  Earth,  and  Sky.  In  them  all 
nature  is  divine.  Surya,  the  Sun-god,  his  car  drawn  by 
shining  steeds,  dispels  the  darkness,  hurries  after  the 
Dawn  as  lover  after  love-maiden,  and  sheds  light,  health, 
and  every  blessing  on  all  the  world.  "  Let  us  meditate," 
says  one  famous  verse,  "  on  the  desii-able  light  of  the 
divine  Sun,  who  influences  our  pious  rites." 

Dyaus  and  Prithivi,  Heaven  and  Earth — the  Zeus  and 
Demeter  of  the  Greek  Pantheon — are  invoked  as  the 
great,  wise,  energetic  parents  of  all  the  other  gods.  Aditi, 
"  mother  of  the  gods,"  stands  one  while  for  the  sky,  anon 
for  the  whole  universe,  and  at  times  for  something  distinct 
from  either.  Ushas,  the  Dawn,  the  Homeric  'Heir,  har- 
nesses her  pm-ple  oxen,  caUing  all  sleeping  things  to  new 
life,  enjoyment,  or  exertion,  and  sending  her  rays  abroad 
like  cattle  to  their  pasture.  Agni,  the  god  of  fij-e,  the 
Latin  Ignis,  is  a  dear  friend,  who  sits  in  the  sacrificial 
chamber,     diffusing    happiness,    like    a   benevolent    man 

*  The  true  date  of  the  Rig-Veda,  or  "  Book  of  Praise,"  the  oldest  of 
the  four  Vedas,  is  still  a  moot  question.  It  is  safe,  however,  to  assume, 
with  Dr.  Max  MUller,  on  evidence  of  a  very  strong  kind,  that  these 
old  hymns  and  prayers,  written  in  the  oldest  forms  of  a  language  pro- 
bably older  than  that  of  ancient  Greece,  were  composed  between  l.^Ou 
and  l,50o  years  before  Clirist. 

b2 


4  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

among  manldnd.  Indra,  the  son  of  Dyaus  and  Pritbivi, 
is  the  far-darting  Apollo  of  the  Vedas,  the  god  of  storms 
and  rain,  who  rends  the  clouds  asunder,  gives  vent  to  the 
showers,  and  frees  the  obstructed  streams.  He  is  invoked 
as  the  Lord  of  Steeds,  victorious  in  battle,  whom  neither 
earth  nor  heaven  can  contain.  His  horses  are  the  scud 
that  denotes  the  coming  tempest.  In  his  chariot  rides 
Vayu  or  Viita,  the  rushing  wind  ;  he  delights  in  drinking 
the  sacred  soma  juice ;  *  and  the  Maruts  or  storm-winds 
are  his  children,  at  whose  approach  earth  trembles  like  a 
storm-di-iven  boat,  and  in  whose  car  ride  the  young  light- 
nings. Varuna,  the  Vedic  'Ovpavos,  represents  the  infinite 
wonder  of  the  sky.  He  is  the  god  who  upholds  order, 
who  knows  the  place  of  the  bu'ds,  the  ships  on  tho  waters, 
the  months  of  the  year,  and  the  track  of  the  winds. 

In  this  old  Vedic  Pantheon  no  one  god  is  raised,  Uke 
the  Hellenic  Zeus,  to  permanent  kingship  over  the  rest. 
Each  stands  for  the  moment  highest  in  the  minds  of  his 
own  worshippers.  "  Among  you,  0  gods,"  says  Manu, 
"  there  is  none  that  is  smaU,  none  that  is  young  ;  you  are 
aU  great  indeed."  To  each  is  offered  his  befitting  sacri- 
fice, each  is  marked  off  by  his  peculiar  symbols ;  and 
symbol  and  sacrifice,  both  in  their  turn,  come  to  be  wor- 
shipped as  divine.  "We  have  later  hymns  in  honour  of  the 
horse,  dear  to  Indra  ;  of  the  ox  or  cow,  that  universal 
blessing  to  men  who  Uve  by  the  plough ;  of  the  ladle  and 
the  post  used  for  sacrifice  ;  and  of  the  soma  plant,  which 
yields  a  nectar  beloved  of  the  gods.  To  the  Kishis,  or 
bards  who  composed  the  Vedas, f  all  things  appear  divine, 
as  symbols  or  expressions  of  the  one  supreme  indwelling 

*  The  soma  plant  of  the  Vedas  was  the  Asckpias  acida  of  Koxbnrgh, 
now  known  as  the  twisting  sarkostema,  a  twining  plant  with  few  leaves, 
and  with  clusters  of  small  white  fragrant  flowers.  It  yields  a  mild, 
acid,  milky  juice,  and  grows  in  various  parts  of  India. 

t  The  Sanskrit  "  Veda"  means  '-what  is  known  ";  from  the  eame  old 
Aryan  root  as  Greek  a'&a ;  Latin  vidio,  votes ;  German  tcissen  ;  Old- 
English  ititan  (to  wit,  or  weet) ;  and  the  old  Norse  "  Edda." 


THE    AEYAN    HINDUS.  0 

soul  that  quickens,  moulds,  and  cberislies  all  alike.  Sun, 
moon,  and  stai's,  the  changes  of  night  and  day,  the  recur- 
rence of  the  seasons,  the  trees,. the  flowers,  the  streams, 
the  very  means  and  processes  of  new  growth,  are  clothed 
by  these  worshippers  of  nature  with  a  divinity  not  their 
own.  In  the  world's  childhood  "  Heaven  Kes  about  them," 
as  it  lies  about  thoughtful  children  in  all  ages.  They  read 
the  riddle  of  the  universe  with  the  eyes  of  poets  whose 
natural  language  is  that  of  worship.  To  them  aU  life  is  a 
sacred  mystery,  an  infinite  marvel,  to  be  studied  only  in 
a  spirit  of  child-like  thankfulness  and  pious  awe.  From 
glorifying  the  life  around  them  they  come  in  time  to  con- 
template the  life  within,  to  speak  of  right  and  wrong,  to 
yeam  after  union  with  the  Immortal  Being.  In  the  later 
Vedas  the  troubled  soul  seeks  closer  communion  with  the 
Unseen  Spu-it ;  it  expresses  sorrow  and  implores  forgive- 
ness for  its  sins ;  it  gives  new  names  to  the  mysterious 
Power  or  Self  which  out  of  nothing  evolved  aU  things,  and 
through  which  the  good  man's  soul  will  find  sure  rest  for 
ever  beyond  the  grave. 

Inevitably  there  comes  a  time  when  the  purer  faith  of 
an  earlier  day  hardens  into  a  fixed  system  of  mythologic 
ritual,  even  as  the  simple  Christianity  of  Paul  and  Peter 
grew  into  the  elaborate  fetishism  of  mediaeval  Rome.  The 
poetic  gods  of  the  old  Pantheon  are  replaced  by  the  mystic 
trinity  of  Brahma,  Vishnu,  and  Siva — the  Maker,  Pre- 
server, and  Destroyer — round  whom  revolve  a  host  of 
smaller  deities,  whose  numbers  gi-ow  and  whose  featm-es 
wax  coarse  with  years.  A  race  of  philosophers  and  trained 
priests  obscures  the  old  imagery  of  the  Vedic  bards  with 
the  metaphysic  subtleties  of  the  Upanishads,  the  fantastic 
trifling  of  the  Sutras  and  the  Vedanta,  and  in  time  with 
the  puerile  gi-ossness  of  the  Puranas.*     Old  forms,  sym- 

*  The  Upanishads  were  a  kind  of  supplement  to  the  Vedas ;  the 
Sutras  were  collections  of  philosophic  aphoiisms ;  the  Vedanta,  from 
ctda  and  anta,  end,  were  commentaries  enforcing  the  purpose  of  the 


O  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

bols,  and  figures  of  speech  lose  their  old  meaning  ;  the 
attributes  of  godhead  become  distinct  gods  ;  the  dim 
shapes  of  poetic  fancy  reappear  as  the  sharply-defined 
conceptions  of  an  abstruse  theology,  or  translate  them- 
selves into  the  uncouth,  unmeaning  objects  of  popular 
idol- worship. 

Against  this  lower  tendency  Buddhism  sprang  up  as  a 
powerful  but  fleeting  protest  about  the  end  of  the  sixth 
century  before  Christ.  It  was  then  that  the  royal  Sakya 
Miini  first  preached  a  return  to  the  purer  doctrines  which 
centuries  of  priestly  rule  and  popular  delusion  had  buried 
under  a  rank  growth  of  debasing  errors.  Of  this  reformer 
— whose  creed,  if  banished  from  its  old  birth-place  at  the 
foot  of  the  Nipalese  Hills,  has  since  become  the  rehgion 
of  nearly  a  third  of  the  human  race — not  much  is  known 
for  certain ;  and  some  years  ago  the  very  fact  of  his  exist- 
ence was  called  in  question  by  one  of  the  foremost  San- 
skrit scholars  of  oui-  time.  In  spite,  however,  of  Professor 
Wilson's  doublings,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  Sakya 
Miini,  afterwards  more  widely  known  as  Buddha  or  The 
Enlightened,  came  of  a  race  of  kings  who  ruled  at  Kapi- 
lavastu,  north  of  the  modern  Audh  ;  that  having  long  sat 
at  the  feet  of  the  Brahman  sages  in  Magadha,  or  Bahar, 
and  at  Banaras,  the  Oxford  of  ancient  India,  he  went  forth 
with  a  fevf  disciples  to  preach  a  purer  gospel  in  Magadha, 
under  the  protection  of  its  friendly  king.  The  story  of 
his  after  wanderings  has  been  so  beclouded  with  fable  that 
time  would  only  be  wasted  in  trying  to  pick  out  the  grain 
from  the  chaff.  Before  his  death,  however,  the  princely 
ascetic,  whose  own  life  and  doctrines  were  in  open  revolt 
from  the  debased  religion,  the  pharisaic  pride,  and  the 
social  tyranny  of  the  old  Brahmanic  order,  had  sown  far 
and  wide   the    seeds  of   a  reaction,   whose   influence  for 

Vedas ;  and  the  Puranas,  from  purdna,  old,  embodied  the  whole  round 

of  lefrends,  ritual,  and  philosophy,  which  had  grown  out  of  the  Tedanta 
into  the  shape  they  first  assumed  about  the  ninth  century  of  our  era. 


THE    AEYAN    HINDUS.  « 

mingled  good  and  eyil  may  stUl  be  found  working  in  at 
least  one  province  of  British  India,  Burmah,  in  one 
British  colony,  Ceylon,  which  was  governed  for  a  short 
time  from  British  India,  and  among  the  numerous  sect 
of  Jains,  who  in  various  parts  of  India  blend  somewhat 
of  old  Buddhist  traditions  with  the  creeds  and  practices  of 
modern  Brahmanism. 

Himself  a  prince  of  the  Kshatriya  or  warrior  caste, 
Sakya  Mimi  held  out  the  hand  of  fehowship  to  men  of  all 
castes  and  classes  alike.  Brahman  and  Sudra,  priest, 
prince,  and  artisan,  were  all  equal  in  his  eyes.  Breaking 
through  the  bonds  of  a  religious  system  which  had  come 
to  bring  all  things  and  beings  under  the  yoke  of  an  all- 
powerful  priesthood,  he  strove  to  make  men  holy  by  teach- 
ing them  to  live  pure  and  holy  lives.  Instead  of  sacrifices 
and  severe  penances  he  exhorted  them  to  sin  no  more,  to 
love  one  another,  to  forgive  insults,  to  return  good  for  evil, 
to  bear  patiently  the  ills  of  this  hfe,  to  wage  ceaseless  war 
with  their  own  lower  natures.  Life,  he  maintained,  was 
full  of  sorrow,  and  the  path  to  happiness  could  only  be 
gained  by  mortifying  the  natural  affections  and  desires 
wherein  lie  the  sources  of  that  sorrow.  All  wtue  and 
well-being,  in  short,  were  summed  up  by  Sakya  Miini  in 
love  and  self-control.  What  else  he  may  have  taught, 
beyond  the  religious  teaching  of  the  Vedas  and  the  meta- 
physics of  their  Brahman  interpreters,  remains  for  the 
most  part  an  open  question.  That  he  aimed,  for  instance, 
at  finding  some  new  way  of  escape  for  the  soul  of  man 
from  its  supposed  liabihty  to  enter  into  new  shapes  of  men 
and  animals  for  evermore,*  is  a  likely,  if  not  quite  a 
necessary  inference,  from  the  doctrines  afterwards  preached 
in  his  name.  But  modern  scholars  are  still  disputing 
whether  the  "  Nirvana,"  to  which  it  is  the  highest  bUss  of 
the  devout  Buddhist  to  attain,  means  utter  extinction  or 

*  The  metempsychosis,  or  transmigi'ation  of  Bovls,  was  among  the 
oldest  tenets  of  Hindu  philosophy. 


M  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

the    calm    that   comes  of  absorption    into   tlie    supreme 
soul.* 

Be  that  as  it  may,  we  may  hold  it  for  certain  that 
Buddha  himself,  like  other  great  reformers,  laid  chief 
stress  on  that  part  of  his  teaching  which  would  appeal 
most  strongly  to  the  popular  heart.  Some  kind  of  hope 
for  a  happier  future  must  have  lain  at  the  bottom  of  a 
religious  movement  which  proclaimed  the  nothingness  of 
human  joys,  and  the  need  of  deliverance  from  human  ills 
and  weaknesses.  The  idea  of  eternal  rest  beyond  the 
grave  would  at  any  rate  for  the  multitude  mean  something 
very  diflerent  from  titter  annihilation ;  even  as  to  the 
Buddhists  of  modern  Burmah,  Nirvana  means  simple  free- 
dom from  old  age,  disease,  and  death. 

In  due  time  the  new  revolt  fi-om  caste-rules  and  Brah- 
manic  traditions  made  its  way  over  India  and  the  neigh- 
boming  countries.  Asoka,  grandson  of  that  king  Chan- 
dragupta,t  to  whose  court  at  the  capital  of  Bahar  Seleucus 
Nicator  sent  an  envoy  about  820  b.c,  became  the  Con- 
stantine  of  the  new  creed.  In  his  reign  Buddhism  spread 
over  the  whole  of  Northern  and  much  of  Southern  India. 
The  stone  pillars  that  mark  his  sway  and  still  bear  his 
edicts  carved  on  their  face,  in  characters  first  deciphered 
by  Mr.  James  Prinsep,  may  still  be  traced  from  Bengal  to 
the  heart  of  Afghanistan.  A  great  council  held  by  him 
in  308  B.C.,  or  as  others  reckon  in  286  b.c,  decreed  the 
sending  forth  of  missions  to  all  the  chief  countries  beyond 
India.  In  the  &st  century  of  the  Christian  era  Buddhism, 
ha\ing  already  struck  firm  root  in  Burmah,  Ceylon,  Java, 
Tibet,  and  Kashmir,  was  declared  by  a  Chinese  emperor 
worthy  to  take  equal  rank  before  the  state  with  the  re- 
ligions of  Confucius  and  Lao-tse.  Losing  its  olden  sim- 
plicity  as    its    followers    gi-cw   in   numbers,    it    gathered 

*  Hay  we  not  assume  that  Buddha,  as  an  ascetic,  meant  by  Nirvana 
something  akin  to  self-denial  or  self-control  ? 
t  The  Sandiacottus  of  Greek  historians. 


THE    AKTAN    HINDUS.  U 

strength  from  the  very  process  of  change  and  corruption 
which  transformed  its  founder  into  its  god  and  its  yery 
priests  into  heaven-bom  popes.  Its  temples  were  filled 
with  images  of  the  prince  who  had  waged  war  against  idol- 
worship,  and  its  moral  beauty  was  gradually  marred  by 
childish  or  grotesque  superstitions,  which  culminated  in 
the  praying  wheels  and  the  deified  Lamas  or  high-priests 
of  Tibet.  In  spite,  however,  of  the  changes  wrought  by 
time  and  circumstance,  Buddha's  spii-it  still  Hves  in  the 
rehgion  that  bears  his  name;  his  moral  teachings  still 
form  the  rule  of  conduct  for  millions  of  his  present  wor- 
shippers ;  and  the  yellow-robed  monks  of  Burmah  still 
hold  out  to  every  Burman  child  such  means  of  leai-ning 
to  read,  write,  and  cipher,  as  the  bulk  of  our  EngUsh 
children  are  only  just  beginning  to  enjoy. 

In  India  the  new  religion  seems  never  to  have  quite 
supplanted  the  old.  For  centuries  they  held  between  them 
a  divided  sway,  each  in  its  turn  gaining  or  losing  ground 
with  the  rise  and  fall  of  successive  dynasties.  At  length 
came  the  inevitable  conflict  which  ended  by  uprooting 
Buddhism  from  its  very  birth-place  in  favour  of  a  rehgious 
system  still  dear  to  the  bulk  of  modem  Hindus.  The 
stem  simplicity  of  Sakya  Muni's  teaching  had  probably 
few  abiding  charms  for  his  lively,  sensuous,  subtle-minded 
country-folk.  Spht  up  into  opposing  sects,  the  later 
Buddhists  seem  to  have  further  weakened  their  cause 
by  vain  paltering  with  the  popular  taste  for  show  and 
superstition.  The  old  caste-system  which  Buddha  had 
sought  to  demolish,  lent  all  its  renewed  strength  to  the 
Brahmanic  reaction.  From  about  the  fifth  to  the  tenth 
century  of  our  era  the  long  strife  raged,  until  throughout 
all  India  Proper  nothing  was  left  of  Buddhism  but  the 
grand  old  halls  and  temples  which  attest  its  former 
prevalence,  and  the  mixture  of  Buddhist  and  Brahmanic 
usage  which  stiU  marks  the  worship  of  the  modem 
Jains. 


10  HISTORY    OK    INDIA. 

Upon  the  Institutes  of  Manu,*  the  Minos  of  Aryan 
India,  and  the  philosophic  systems  spun  out  of  the  Vedas 
by  successive  schools  of  Hindu  thinkers,  the  victorious 
Brahmans  built  up  the  social  and  rehgious  fabric  of  modern 
Hinduism.  Every  nation  has  its  mythical  lawgiver,  its 
Minos  or  its  Lycurgus,  in  whom  it  finds  the  sources  of  its 
social  and  political  growth.  Manu,  the  Adam  or  first  man 
of  the  Aryan  race,  had  given  his  name  to  a  code  of  laws 
and  customs  compiled  about  900  years  before  Christ  by 
certain  of  the  M:'mavas,  the  oldest  Aryan  settlers  in  Upper 
India,  who  dwelt  between  the  Satlaj  and  the  "  divine  Sa- 
ras wati."  Their  chief  city,  Hastinapur,  the  abode  of  the 
legendary  King  Bharat,  renowned  in  old  Hindu  poetry,  lay 
in  Sirhiud,  to  the  north-east  of  the  modern  Meerut,  and 
their  settlements  ere  long  covered  the  whole  ground  be- 
tween the  Ganges  and  the  Indus.  These  were  the  men 
who  founded  that  village-system  and  drew  up  those  caste- 
rules  by  which  Indian  society  is  still  in  some  measure  kept 
from  falling  to  pieces.  Each  village  or  township  became 
the  centre  of  a  little  commonwealth,  governed  in  the  king's 
name  by  a  head-man  of  the  conquering  race,  with  the  help 
of  a  council  of  its  own  house-fathers,  or  heads  of  families. 
Acting  under  these  were  a  staff  of  village  officers,  main- 
tained for  various  purposes  at  the  common  cost.  Each 
village  kept  its  own  registrar,  its  own  watchman,  barber, 
schoolmaster,  washerman,  goldsmith,  wheelwright.  Every 
house-father  obeyed  the  common  laws  and  usages  ex- 
pounded or  enforced  by  the  village  coimeU  ;  but  within 
his  own  household  he  reigned  supreme  as  any  Roman 
father  in  the  days  of  the  Republic.  Over  the  lands  within 
and    around   his   township    his    control    was   much   more 

*  Manu,  the  first  man  of  the  Sanskrit-speaking  Hindus,  is  the  same 
word  as  Gothic  maunv^,  German  vmnn  and  jmnsch,  English  man,  and 
Welsh  mynw.  It  comes  from  the  same  root  as  Sanskrit  mdna,  to 
think,  mann^,  the  mind  (Latin  mens),  and  perhaps  German  mtinung, 
"  meaning." 


THE    ARYAN    HINDUS. 


11 


bounded.  If,  as  head  of  a  family,  he  might  claim  all  but 
free  and  full  ownership  of  the  fields  originally  allotted  to 
his  family,  the  rest  of  bis  holdings  belonged  collectively 
to  the  whole  village,  and  could  only  be  used  by  him  under 
certain  fixed  conditions.  He  had  to  sow  the  same  crops 
as  his  neighbours,  to  let  certain  fields  lie  fallow  in  fixed 
succession,  and  to  respect  the  right  of  other  households  to 
pasture  their  cattle  on  the  fallow  or  stubble  land.  Each 
village,  moreover,  was  fully  equipped  with  tradesmen, 
artisans,  and  so  forth,  whose  relative  place  in  the  little 
commonwealth  was  determined  by  their  several  pursuits. 

In  the  code  of  Manu  all  those  members  of  the  Aryan 
village  community  are  arranged  into  four  separate  classes 
or  "  colom-s,"  each  governed  by  its  own  usages  and  fenced 
off  by  strict  rules  and  duties  from  every  other.  First 
come  the  Brahmans,  the  hereditary  priests,  the  Levites  of 
Arj-an  India,  who  sprang,  says  later  tradition,  from  the 
head  of  Brahma  himself,  and  whose  time-hallowed  rights 
were  carefully  guarded  from  all  profane  encroachments  by 
the  teaching  of  those  holy  books  whose  meaning  they 
alone  could  rightly  interpret.  At  once  the  religious  and 
social  leaders  of  their  day,  they  found  in  the  popular 
reverence  for  their  order  a  wiUing  accomplice  in  the  build- 
ing-up of  a  caste-system  for  which  no  real  sanction  can  be 
found  in  the  hymns  of  Vedic  seers,  nor  in  any  writings 
earlier  than  Manu's  code — itself  the  forged  title-deeds  of  a 
class  ah-eady  supreme  among  their  countrymen,  by  right 
of  their  general  usefulness,  their  higher  culture,  and  per- 
haps their  purer  lives.  So  firmly  was  their  power  esta- 
blished, that  to  kill  a  Brahman  was  accounted  the  worst  of 
crimes,  and  to  injure,  or  even  insult  him,  a  grievous 
outrage.  No  Brahman  could  wholly  forfeit  his  divine 
birthright,  nor  could  even  kings  take  rank  with  Brah- 
mans, the  favoured  childi-en  of  the  gods.  To  honour  or 
befriend  one  of  the  heaven-born  race  was  enough  atone- 
ment for  almost  any  crime.     It  was  forbidden  by  the  laws 


12  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

of  Manu  to  take  from  a  Brahman  borrower  more  than  two 
per  cent.,  or  half  the  interest  that  might  be  taken  from  a 
merchant.  A  Brahman  might  not  stoop  to  trade  or  to  earn 
money  by  other  than  purely  intellectual  pursuits ;  but  he 
was  always  free  to  accept  alms  in  food  or  money  for  the 
due  performance  of  his  priestly  duties. 

Nest  to  the  Brahmans  in  the  social  order  of  Manu,  ranks 
the  Kshatriya  or  soldier  class.  To  this  belonged  most  of 
the  princes  and  nobles  of  Aryan  India ;  and  the  Rajput 
tribes  of  modern  India  claim  to  be  the  purest  living  speci- 
mens of  a  class  which  seems  once  to  have  fought  hard  for 
social  lordship  with  their  Brahman  rivals.  Of  the  thu-d, 
or  Vaisya  class,  tillage,  trade,  banking,  law,  and  medicine, 
were  the  chief  pursuits,  in  most  of  which  a  very  high 
degree  of  excellence  had  been  already  reached  when  the 
laws  of  Manu  were  first  issued.  These  three  classes  em- 
braced all  men  of  Aryan  race.  To  Brahman,  Kshatriya, 
and  Vaisya  alike  belonged  the  proud  title  of  "twice-born" 
and  the  right  of  wearing  the  sacred  thread.  In  the  fourth, 
or  Sudra  class,  wore  comprehended  all  the  "  low-born," 
the  people  of  mixed  caste  or  of  non-Aryan  blood,  who 
followed  trades  and  callings  forbidden  to  the  twice-born, 
or  belonged  by  birth  to  any  of  the  subject  races.  No 
Sudra  was  allowed  to  read  the  Vedas,  to  eat  or  intennarry 
with  any  member  of  a  higher  caste,  or  even  to  sit  upon 
the  same  mat  with  a  Brahman. 

In  course  of  time  the  system  thus  sanctioned  by  a 
mythical  lawgiver,  in  behalf  at  once  of  an  aggressive 
priesthood  and  a  conqueiing  race,  vmderwent  some  note- 
worthy changes.  Shattered,  if  not  efRiced  by  succeeding 
waves  of  Buddhism,  it  reappeared  dm-ing  the  Christian 
centuries  in  a  new  and  far  more  complex  shape.  Out  of 
the  four  great  castes  there  had  grown  some  hundi'eds. 
The  old  sharp  di\isions  of  birth  and  calling  had  well-nigh 
vanished.  Race  no  longer  determined  a  man's  pursuits. 
The  Brahman  ceased  to  be  a  bom  priest.     In  the  struggle 


THE    ARY-VN    HINDUS. 


13 


for  life,  he  and  the  lowly  Sudra  not  seldom  changed 
places,  while  both  alike  invaded  the  old  domains  of  the 
soldier  and  the  husbandman.  Sudra  dynasties  ruled  the 
land  ;  Sudra  priests  sacrificed  in  the  holy  places ;  Sudra 
soldiers  fought  by  the  side  of  Brahmans  and  Kajputs ; 
Sudra  merchants,  bankers,  landholders,  physicians,  were 
held  in  equal  honour  with  the  Vaisyas,  whose  place  they 
gradually  filled.  It  was  accounted  no  shame  for  a  Brah- 
man to  cook  the  dinner  of  a  wealthy  Sudra,  to  become  a 
clerk  in  a  public  oflice,  to  follow  the  standard  of  a  Sudra 
captain,  or  to  earn  a  Uvelihood  by  managing  a  farm.  He 
might  still,  like  a  modern  Polish  noble,  carry  his  head 
high  among  men  of  his  own  caste  ;  but  in  the  outer  world 
his  social  importance  came  more  and  more  to  depend  upon 
his  worldly  circumstances.  As  a  priest  or  a  Pandit  he 
still  enjoyed  all  the  reverence  which  Hindus  are  wont  to 
pay  to  their  spiritual  and  intellectual  guides.  As  a  soldier 
or  a  merchant  he  continued  to  rank  fii'st  among  followers 
of  the  same  calling.  But  a  wealthy  Sudra  merchant  or 
landholder  paid  small  deference  to  the  twice-born  clerk 
who  wrote  his  letters,  or  to  the  high-caste  menial  who 
prepared  his  food. 

The  Brahmans  themselves  branched  off  into  a  number 
of  separate  castes,  each  bound  by  its  own  rules,  and  few 
of  them  either  claiming  or  conceding  the  right  to  eat  or 
inteiTuarry  with  any  other.  Alongside  the  old  caste  of 
birth  and  political  standing  there  grew  up  also  the  caste 
of  creeds  and  occupations ;  and  the  two  processes  got  to 
be  so  intermingled  that  it  is  often  hard  to  distinguish 
between  them.  Each  group  of  persons  following  the  same 
trade  or  calling  in  the  same  neighbourhood  formed  itself 
into  a  separate  guild  or  brotherhood,  held  together  by 
rules  that  often  diflered  from  those  of  corresponding  guilds 
elsewhere.  Like  the  trade-guilds  of  mediseval  Europe 
and  the  trade  unions  of  our  own  day,  these  Indian  brother- 
hoods fenced  themselves  round  with  a  network  of  moral 


14  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

and    social    observances,   through   whose   meshes  no   one 
could  break  without  risk  of  social  outlawry.     A  kind  of 
religious   sanction  was  impressed   on  these   rules  by  the 
priests  or  elders  empowered  to  interpret  and  enforce  them. 
The  innate  Hindu  craving  for  self-government  under  strict 
conditions  was  carried   down  into  the  lowest  circles  and 
the  smallest  details  of  social  life.     The  very  Pariahs  and 
utter  outcasts,  the  scavengers,  leather-dressers,  conjurors, 
gypsies,  thieves,  adopted  caste-rules  of  their  own,  behind 
which  they  loved  to  guard  themselves  from  the  approach 
of  all  outsiders,  high   or   low.     Caste   in  one   shape   or 
another  found  acceptance  even  with  the  Jains,  the  Sikhs, 
and  the  Mohammadans,  to  whose  own  inherited  systems 
of  life  and  worship  it  ran  directly  counter.     Its  influence 
for  mingled  good  and  evil  continued  to  assert  itself  through 
all  the  changes  which   Indian  society  has   from   time  to 
time  undergone.     Christianity  itself  has  for  the  most  part 
warred  in  vain  against  an  institution   not  altogether  un- 
known in  the  most  civihsed  of  Christian  coimtries.     Caste 
in  India  has  many  forms,  most  of  which  may  be  said  to 
reproduce  themselves  in  the  class  distinctions  and  social 
usages  of  every  nation  in  modern  Europe.     It  is  not  in 
India   alone    that  certain   trades,   classes,   or  professions 
take  precedence  of  certain  others,  that  a  halo  of  special 
sanctity  surrounds  the  priest,  that  a  wide  gulf  of  social 
habit    divides    the   nobleman   from    the   shopkeeper.      In 
England  a  barrister  would  incur  deep  social  disgrace  by 
stooping  to  practices  admissible  on  the  part  of  an  attorney. 
A  German  noble  would  still  be  degraded  by  intermarriage 
with   a   mere   plebeian.      Even  in  the  United  States  of 
America,  where  all  classes  are  equal  before  the  sovereign 
people,  wealth  has  set  up  an  aristocracy  of  its  own,  and 
the  old  pride  of  birth  still  rears  its  walls  of  separation 
between  the  old  families  and  the  new-made  rich. 


15 


CHAPTER  II. 

BRAHMANISM    RE-ASCKNDENT. 

What  the  later  forms  of  caste  were  to  the  earlier,  the 
religion  of  the  Puranas  must  have  been  to  that  of  the 
Vedas.  If  the  later  Brahmans  still  professed  to  revere 
the  teaching  of  Holy  Books  written  in  a  tongue  already 
strange  even  to  themselves,  they  took  care  at  any  rate  to 
amuse  the  people  at  large  with  scriptures  better  suited  to 
the  popular  understanding.  Somewhere  about  the  ninth 
century  of  our  era — the  very  time  when  Roman  Popes 
were  proclaiming  the  sanctity  of  those  forged  Decretals 
which  gave  a  colour  of  old  prescriptive  right  to  their  grow- 
ing pretensions — the  first  books  of  the  new  Hindu  Bible 
appear  to  have  come  into  vogue.  To  these  from  time  to 
time  were  added  fresh  Puranas,  until  their  number  had 
swollen  to  eighteen.  In  them  were  embodied  the  whole 
system  of  Brahmanic  faith,  worship,  morals,  philosophy, 
even  law,  as  it  gi-ew  up  with  the  decline  of  Indian 
Buddhism.  Borrowing  alike  from  sources  old  and  new, 
they  contain  a  curious  mixture  of  grotesque  legends,  gross 
superstitions,  wild  flights  of  reasoning  and  fancy,  enno- 
bling maxims,  holy  aspirations,  flashes  of  shrewd  insight, 
long  trains  of  close  and  subtle  thought.  In  respect  of 
mental  gifts  the  later  Brahmans  were  still  the  true,  if 
perhaps  the  degenerate  children  of  their  Vedic  predeces- 
sors. Learned  in  all  the  knowledge  of  their  day,  but 
blind  perhaps  to  the  poetic  origin  of  the  popular  theology 
they  seemed  to  have  aimed  at  strengthening  their  hold 
upon  the  people  by  sanctioning  each  new  perversion  of 


IG 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


the  old  ancestral  creeds.  Under  the  working  of  the  same 
law  which  evolved  the  later  Greek  Pantheon  out  of  the 
simple  nature-worship  of  the  days  before  Homer,  the 
rehgious  poetry  of  the  Vedas  had  blossomed  out  into  a 
rank  growth  of  monstrous-seeming  legends,  fantastic  rites, 
and  multiform  idolatries.  Whatever  the  Brahmans  them- 
selves believed,  the  popular  worship  had  already  hardened 
into   a  lifeless  caricature  of  the  reliqrion  bodied  forth   in 


GROUP  OP    BIlAIIMiNS. 

the  Vedic  H^inns.  If  the  Puranas  held  that  Brahma, 
Vishnu,  and  Siva  were  but  diflerent  attributes  of  one  same 
godhead,  the  people  at  large  were  wont  to  treat  them  as 
separate  and  rival  gods,  the  chief,  perhaps,  but  not  the 
only  dwellers  on  the  Indian  Olympus. 

Vishnu,  the  Indian  Hercules,  grew  out  of  a  Vedic 
synonym  for  the  sun  into  the  central  figure  of  a  new 
legendary  circle,  the  divine  embodiment  of  ever  so  many 
heroes  renowned  in  song  or  fable.     Hindu  poetry  is  full 


BKAHMANISM    KE-ASCENDENT.  17 

of  his  Avatars  or  manifestations  in  the  flesh.  He  is  a 
little  fish  who  swells  and  swells  untU  he  spreads  for  mil- 
lions of  leagues  in  one  golden  blaze  over  the  ocean.  In 
the  shape  of  a  boar  five  hundred  miles  high  he  plunges 
his  mighty  tusks  into  the  waste  of  waters,  and  brings  up 
the  solid  earth  from  its  briny  bed.  In  the  memorable 
Churning  of  the  Ocean,  Vishnu  as  Narayan  recruits  the 
fainting  strength  of  Gods  and  Titans  employed  in  wresting 
from  the  deep  the  lost  Ambrosia  of  the  Immortals.* 
Again,  in  man's  form  with  a  lion's  head,  he  comes  like 
another  Briareus  to  restore  the  Indian  Jove  to  his  lost 
throne,  and  defeat  the  giants  who  have  conquered  the 
earth.  Anon,  as  Rama,  the  princely  hero  of  the  Eam;iyan 
oldest  and  sweetest  of  Indian  epics,  he  fights  and  slays 
the  giant  Ravan,  who  had  carried  ofl"  to  the  isle  of  Lanka 
his  beloved  Sita,  the  faithful  partner  of  his  long  exile  from 
home    and   throne.       As    Krishna,    the    warrior   king    of 

*  The  Amrita,  or  Drink  of  Immortality — answering  to  the  Hreek 
Ambrosia — had  been  lost  in  the  great  flood,  which,  according  to  Hindu 
legend,  overspread  the  earth  in  the  days  of  Mann — himself  and  the 
seven  Rishis,  or  sage?,  floating  on  the  waters  in  their  ship  of  refuge, 
until,  guided  by  the  fish  Vishnu,  it  rested  on  the  highest  peak  of 
Himalaya,  When  the  waters  subsided,  Brahma,  at  Vishnu's  suggestion, 
proposed  to  chum  the  ocean  until  it  yielded  up  the  lost  Amrit.  How 
the  Siirs  and  Asiirs.  the  gods  and  the  demons,  tearing  up  the  hill 
Mandar,  wound  about  it  the  hundred-headed  Shesha,  the  serpent  king, 
for  a  chuming-rope  ;  how,  standing  on  Vishnu's  tortoise,  they  lowered 
the  huge  mass  into  the  sea,  whirling  it  round  and  round,  with  Vishnu's 
help,  until  treasure  after  treasure  rose  out  of  the  troubled  foam,  from 
the  horses  of  the  Sun  and  the  bow  of  Siva,  to  Lakshmi,  the  Indian 
Venus ;  how  Siva  betimes  drank  up  the  deadly  poison  that  streamed 
from  the  mouth  of  the  fainting  Shesha ;  and  bow  at  last  two  maidens 
float  up  from  the  seething  billows,  the  one  bearing  the  heavenly  Amrit, 
the  other  a  flask  of  wine,  which  the  heedless  Asurs  drink  off,  to  their 
own  confusion  ; — all  this  Mr.  W.  Waterfield  has  well  told  in  one  of  the 
most  spirited  of  his  "  Indian  Ballads."  Of  this  wonderful  story,  which 
illustrates  the  mingled  grandeur,  wildness,  sportive  fancy,  and  tender 
grace  of  the  best  Hindu  poetry,  the  original  Sanski-it  contains  several 
versions,  one  of  which,  as  given  in  the  Mahabharat,  has  been  cleverly 
versified  by  Mr.  R.  H.  Griffith,  in  his  '•  Specimens  of  Old  Indian 
Poetry." 

C 


18  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Dwaraka  in  Gujarat,  he  is  the  foremost  figure  in  many 
an  Indian  tale  of  love,  war,  or  bold  adventure.  His  last 
advent  under  the  form  of  Buddha,  the  founder  of  a  rival 
creed,  seems  to  attest  either  the  readiness  of  Brahman 
teachers  to  reverence  old  truths  preached  under  new  dis- 
guises, or  else  their  politic  desire  to  stand  well  with  the 
people  at  large  by  admitting  new  gods  into  the  old  Pan- 
theon ;  even  as  the  deifying  of  the  dark-skinned  Krishna 
may  point  to  the  gradual  fusion  of  old  popular  legends 
with  those  of  peculiarly  Aryan  birth.* 

If  Vishnu  owned  and  still  owns  millions  of  worshippers 
distributed  among  divers  sects,  Siva,  the  Destroving 
Principle,  evolved  from  the  Yedie  Rudra,  god  of  fire  and 
storms,  grew  into  the  foremost  rival,  if  not  for  a  time  the 
supplanter  of  his  elder  and  more  gracious  brother-god. 
In  some  parts  of  India,  temples  that  once  bore  the  shield 
and  club  of  Vishnu  have  since  been  dedicated  to  the 
eight-armed  bearer  of  the  bow  and  crescent,  whose  neck- 
lace is  threaded  with  human  skulls,  whose  waist  is  girdled 
with  serpents,  around  whose  shoulders  hangs  a  raw  ele- 
phant hide,  and  whose  third  eye,  placed  in  the  middle  of 
his  forehead,  betokens  the  sharpness  of  his  mental  -s-ision. 
If  Vishnu  may  be  taken  to  embody  the  genial  human  side 
of  the  great  World-Spirit  called  Brahma,  the  worship  of 
Siva  expressed  the  sterner,  wilder  attributes  of  the  same 
unseen  mysterious  Fountain  of  all  life  and  death.  Stoical 
or  ascetic  natures  found  in  the  grave  and  gloomy  rites 
that  mark  his  worship  that  kind  of  spii-itual  comfort 
which  others  drew  from  the  worship  of  the  niUder  good. 
Chief  among  Siva's  votaries  are  the  Brahmans  of  Bengal, 
but  it  is  in  Southern  India,  where  the  pious  Sankara 
Acharya  preached  and  travelled  nine  hundred  years  ago, 
that  the  sects  which  honour  Siva  have  made  most  way 

•  The  T&iaTas,  or  children  of  Tadu,  were  the  brethren  of  Krishna, 
and  the  apparent  forefathers  of  the  modern  Jats,  who  abound  in  Upper 
India. 


BRAHMANISM    RE-ASCEXDENT.  19 

among  the  people.  Among  the  strictest  of  these  are  the 
Lingayats,  -who  worship  Siva  uuiler  the  form  of  the 
Lingam,  the  male  emblem  of  Natm-e's  reproductive 
powers. 

Siva-worship  in  its  turn  seems  to  have  begotten  new 
and  strange  outgrowths  in  the  shape  of  the  fierce  goddess 
Diirga  and  the  elephant-headed  god  Ganesha.  The  former, 
herself  in  part  evolved  from  the  earlier  Pai-vati,  Siva's 
queen,  presently  reappears  in  the  yet  sterner  guise  of 
KiiU,  at  whose  blood-stained  altars  the  robber  tribes  of 
India  pay  their  special  homage,  and  whose  favour  was 
besought  by  the  murdering  brotherhood  of  the  Thugs. 
Sita,  the  faithful  wife  of  Rama,  becomes  merged  in  Sri  or 
Lakshmi,  the  beautiful  and  bounteous  goddess-queen  of 
Vishnu.  Siirya,  the  sun-god,  Kailikeya,  god  of  war,  Yama, 
the  Indian  Pluto,  Saraswati,  goddess  of  learning,  fill  each 
a  certain  place  in  the  later  Hindu  Pantheon.  In  the 
natural  course  of  things,  new  legends,  creeds,  practices, 
sprang  up  to  displace  or  absorb  the  old.  Besides  the 
deities  common  to  all  Aryan  Hindus,  each  place  or  district 
followed  its  own  rites  and  bowed  down  to  its  own  local  gods 
or  demons,  many  of  them  borrowed  from  indigenous,  or  at 
least  non- Aryan  sources.  In  short,  the  popular  worship 
took  its  colour  and  its  grosser  traits  from  all  the  changing 
circumstances,  moral  and  physical,  which  have  helped  to 
shape  the  destinies  of  the  Indian  peoples. 

Chief  among  the  later  oflf-shoots  of  modem  Hinduism  was 
the  religious  sect  founded  by  the  pious  Kshatriya  Xinak 
Shah,  in  the  fifteenth  century  of  our  era.  From  time  to  time 
there  arose  in  this  or  that  part  of  India  some  earnest 
thinker,  who  strove  to  purify  and  regenerate  the  popular 
worship  of  his  day.  Buddha  himself  was  not  the  first  by 
many  of  those  who  assayed  in  India  the  kind  of  mission 
discharged  towards  their  own  countrymen  by  the  Jewish 
prophets  and  the  great  religious  teachers  of  Christian 
Europe.  Of  like  stamp  was  Sankara  Acharya,  a  native  of 
«2 


20  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Malabar,  who  in  the  eighth  or  ninth  century  of  onr  era 
proclaimed  anew  the  supreme  bliss  of  perfect  communion, 
through  penitence,  prayer,  and  self-sacrifice,  between  the 
human  soul  and  the  great  unseen  Spirit  whence  all  things 
visible  have  their  birth.  Such,  too,  were  the  leading 
reformers  of  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies— Ramanand,  the  St.  Francis,  and  Vallabha  Swamin, 
the  Epicurus  of  India;  Dadu,  the  cotton  cleaner  of  Ajmir, 
who  taught  that  faith  and  a  pure  heart  were  better  than 
fasting  and  sacrifice  ;  Kabir,  who  denounced  the  idol-wor- 
ship and  the  coiTupt  doctrines  of  his  day ;  and  Tukar:im, 
the  Maratha  poet,  who  preached  a  new  gospel  of  love 
towards  God  and  man,  of  child-Hke  faith  in  all  God's 
works  and  ways. 

Kabir,  himself  the  disciple  of  Ramanand,  seems  to  have 
been  held  in  equal  honour  by  Hindus  and  Mohammadans. 
His  follower  Nanak,  founder  of  the  Hindu  sect  of  Sikhs 
which  afteiTvards  became  the  ruling  race  in  the  Panjab, 
proclaimed  the  religious  brotherhood  of  the  Hindu  and 
the  Mussulman  in  words  which  reflect  the  desire  of  bene- 
volent minds  in  all  ages  :  "He  only  is  a  good  Hindu  who 
is  just  and  a  good  Mohammadan  whose  life  is  pure."  His 
teaching  was  specially  levelled  against  Brahman  tyranny 
and  the  mixture  of  forms  and  superstitions  which  passed 
witJb  the  multitude  for  true  religion.  A  succession  of 
Gurus  or  High  Priests  handed  on  his  teaching  and  swelled 
the  numbers  of  the  new  sect.  In  the  Mohammadans, 
however,  who  then  ruled  India,  the  Sikhs  found  stern 
oppressors  instead  of  powerful  allies.  After  nearly  a 
centuiy  of  persecution  they  took  up  arms  against  the  foe 
under  the  warlike  Guru  Govind,  and  after  a  long  course  of 
varying  fortune,  the  peaceful  followers  of  Nanak  wielded 
military  rule  from  the  Indus  to  the  Jamna,  and  held  under 
a  yoke  of  iron  the  crashed  Mohammadans  of  the  Panjab. 

A  still  later  revolt  fi'om  the  popular  creed  was  set  on 
foot  in  the  present   century  by  the   enlightened   Hindu 


BRAHMAXISM    KE-ASCEMDENT.  21 

Rajah,  Hammohan  Eai.  He  proclaimed  a  pure  Theism 
founded  on  the  religious  teaching  of  the  Yedas,  and  en- 
riched with  borrowings  from  the  Christianity  of  the  West. 
His  mantle  fell  on  the  worth}-  shoulders  of  Dwarkanath  Tha- 
kiir,  and  the  Brahma  Samdj,  or  Church  of  Brahma,  be- 
came the  title  of  a  sect  which  now  owns  several  thousand 
followers.  A  few  years  ago  a  fresh  departure  from  the  old 
faith  was  taken  by  the  young  Brahmist  leader,  Keshab 
Chandar  Sen,  whose  followers  have  disowned  the  last  ties 
of  social  and  rehgious  habit  that  still  bind  the  Brahmists 
of  the  older  school  to  their  unreformed  countiynicn. 


22 


CHAPTEK  III. 

EARLY    HISTOEY    OF    INDIA. 

Of  the  early  history  of  the  Aryan  Hindus  very  little  is 
known  for  certain.*  In  the  time  of  the  older  Vedas, 
somewhere  ahout  the  fourteenth  century  before  Christ, 
they  had  already  gained  a  firm  footing  in  the  broad  plains 
that  stretch  from  the  Indus  to  the  Ganges.  Coming  from 
the  regions  beyond  the  Hindu  Khush,  the  classic  Cau- 
casus, they  must  have  taken  several  centuries  to  win  their 
way  so  far  eastward  ;  and  a  list  of  their  old  kings,  as 
quoted  by  Arrian,  the  Greek  historian,  would  seem  to  trace 
their  early  history  as  far  back  as  the  year  3000  b.c.  Of 
the  people  whom  they  conquered  or  pushed  before  them 

*  The  word  Aryan,  from  Arya,  Sanskrit  for  "  noble,"  is  now  used  to 
denote  the  Caucasian,  Japhetic,  or  Indo-European  races  of  men,  whose 
lan<njages,  customs,  and  bodily  traits  may  all  be  referred  to  one  com- 
mon type.  From  some  central  point  in  Upper  Asia,  one  Aryan  race 
after  another  appears  to  have  wandered,  either  westward  into  Europe, 
or  southward  into  Persia  and  Hindustan,  The  Celtic  races  made  their 
way  into  Greece,  Italy,  Spain,  France,  and  Britain ;  the  Goths,  or 
Teutons,  into  Germany,  Scandinavia,  and  England ;  while  the  Slaves 
peopled  Russia,  Poland,  and  parts  of  the  Austrian  Empire.  Persia  was 
peopled  by  a  Zend-speaking  branch  of  the  same  Aryan  family,  and 
India  became  the  heritage  of  the  Sanskrit-speiiking  Hmdus,  None  of 
these  races  can  claim  to  be  the  parent  of  the  rest ;  it  is  not  even  certain 
•which  of  them  was  the  eldest  brother ;  but  the  fact  of  their  common 
brotherhood,  of  their  common  distinction  from  the  Semitic,  Mongolic, 
and  other  tyjies  of  men,  has  been  clearly  established  by  the  researches 
of  modern  science.  In  the  words  of  Dr.  Max  Miiller,  "  The  terms  for 
Grod,  for  house,  for  father,  mother,  son,  daughter,  for  dog  and  cow,  for 
wail  and  tears,  for  axe  and  tree,  identical  in  all  the  Indo-European 
idioms,  are  like  the  watchwords  of  soldiers."—"  Chips  from  a  German 
Workshop,"  vol.  i.  p.  64. 


EAKLY    HISTORY    OF    INDIA.  23 

we  only  know  that  they  spoke  a  different  language  and 
belonged  to  a  different,  perhaps  an  older,  to  all  appear- 
ance a  less  civiUsed  race.  These  latter,  the  Dasyus  of 
Aryan  song,  may  once  have  covered  the  whole  of  ancient 
India  ;  and  their  descendants,  to  the  number  of  eleven  or 
twelve  mOlions,  make  up  the  various  tribes  of  Bhiis, 
Gimds,  Siinthals,  Kols,  Mairs,  Minas,  Mangs,  Kukis,  and 
so  forth,  which  still  cleave  to  their  ancestral  hills  and 
forests,  or  roam  in  quest  of  a  Uvelihood  from  place  to 
place.  Dark-skinned,  short,  ugly-featured,  with  high 
cheek-bones  and  scanty  beards,  these  rude,  scattered 
remnants  of  some  aboriginal  race  differ  not  more  widely 
in  outward  shape  and  language  than  in  tastes,  habits,  and 
ways  of  thinking,  from  the  tall,  light-skinned,  fuU-bearded, 
comely-featured,  subtle-brained  Hindus  of  pure  Aryan 
descent.  They  eat  all  kinds  of  food,  are  partial  to  strong 
drinks,  know  nothing  of  caste-rules,  wear  very  little  cloth- 
ing, have  no  written  language,  no  system  of  regular  tillage, 
worship  strange  sprites  and  demons,  and  lead  on  the 
whole  a  wild,  sequestered,  unprogi'essive  life.  Some  tribes, 
however,  have  learned  from  contact  with  their  civilised 
neighbours  to  move  slowly  forward  in  the  same  direc- 
tion. 

In  the  course  of  time  the  civilised  conquerors  of  Upper 
India  carried  their  arms  and  settlements  across  the  gi-eat 
Vindhyan  range,  which  walls  off  the  Dakhan,  or  Southern 
India,  from  the  plains  and  deserts  of  the  north.  Mean- 
while the  conquered  country  had  been  parcelled  out  into 
several  kingdoms,  such  as  the  Panjab,  Gujarat,  Kananj, 
Tirhiit,  Magadha,  and  Gaur  or  Bengal.  It  is  hopeless  trying 
to  pierce  the  night  of  poetic  fable  which  surrounds  the 
history  of  those  far-off  days.  The  story  of  the  great  war 
between  the  Piindus  and  the  Knrus,  the  Solar  and  the 
Lunar  races,  as  told  in  the  Mahabharat,  the  Indian  Hiad, 
has  probably  as  much  or  as  little  in  it  of  the  historic 


24  HISTOBY    OF    INDIA. 

element  as  Homer's  story  of  the  Siege  of  Troy.*  Not 
less  baffling  for  historic  purposes  are  the  events  recorded 
in  the  yet  older  Ramayan,  the  ^Eneid  or  the  Odyssey  of 
Aryan  India.  Rama,  the  hero  of  Valmiki's  graceful  epic, 
and  rightful  heir  by  birth  to  the  throne  of  Ayodhya  or 
Audh,  is  doomed  by  a  step-mother's  wiles  to  wander  in 
lonely  forests  towards  the  south.  His  faithful  wife  Sita 
shares  and  cheers  his  exile,  until  Ravan,  the  demon  king 
of  Lanka,  or  Ceylon,  bears  her  off  through  the  skies  to  his 
own  palace.  Thither,  with  the  help  of  an  army  of 
monkeys,  who  probably  stand  for  the  wild  races  of 
Southern  India,  the  bereaved  husband  follows  up  the 
ravisher.  A  terrible  fight  ends  in  the  death  of  Ravan, 
and  the  retiu-n  of  Sita  to  her  husband's  arms  after  she 
has  proved  her  purity  by  passing  unhurt  through  the 
ordeal  of  fire.  Rama,  happy  and  triumphant,  reappears 
in  his  late  father's  capital,  to  enjoy  the  kingly  heritage 
which  his  faithful  brother  Bharat  had  so  long  held  in  trust 
for  the  rightful  lord.f 

What  traces  of  historic  tnith  may  be  gleaned  from  this 
fine  old  Sanskrit  epic  are  slight  and  often  uncertain.  Rama 
himself  remains  a  heroic  shadow,  evolved,  like  Homer's 
Achilles,  from  some  dim  poetic  legend  of  the  sun.  The 
story  of  his  wanderings  and  his  southward  march  to  Cey- 
lon, if  it  has  any  historic  meaning,  may  point  to  the  pro- 

•  This  war,  memorable  for  a  great  battle,  fousjht  for  eighteen  days, 
near  Dehli,  in  which  all  the  tribes  of  Northern  India  are  described  as 
taking  part,  is  supposed  to  have  occurred  about  1300  B.C.  The  poem 
itself  was  probably  composed  by  Vyasa  in  the  second  century  before 
Christ,  partly,  no  doubt,  from  mateiials  of  a  much  older  date.  The 
Mahabharat —  literally,  the  mighty  Bharat — contains,  in  eighteen  books, 
a  series  of  legends  concerning  the  adventures  of  the  children  of  Pandu 
and  Kuru,  descended  from  Bharat  the  Great,  who  reigned  at  Hastinapur. 

t  The  date  of  the  Ramayan  is  very  uncertain  ;  but  from  internal 
evidence  it  would  seem  to  have  been  composed  ten  or  eleven  centuries 
before  Christ.  (See  Griffith's  "Ramayan."  Triibner  &  Co.).  Both 
these  national  epics  are  still  widely  read,  or  chanted,  throaghoi't 
Hmdustan. 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


25 


gress  of  Aryan  settlement  in  the  regions  south  of  the 
Narbadha.  At  the  time  when  Yalmiki  wrote  his  poem,  his 
Sanskrit-speaking  countrymen  must  have  already  gained 
some  kind  of  footing  in  that  part  of  the  great  peninsula. 
If  any  trust  can  be  placed  in  Hindu  genealogies,  a  Pan- 
dyan  dynasty  of  northern  birth  ruled  part  of  Southern 
India  in  the  ninth  century  before  Christ,  and  a  Chola 
dynasty,  of  like  origin,  sprang  up  a  few  centuries  later  in 
the  modern  Camatic.  Ere  long  Malabar  also  fell  under 
the  sway  of  Aryan  kings  ;  and  before  the  Christian  era  aU 
India  had  been  colonised  or  conquered  by  Sanskrit-speak- 
ing Hindus. 

They,  or  their  Indian  kinsfolk,  had  even  carried  their 
arms  and  settlements  into  the  islands  of  Java*  and  Bah, 
and  may  perhaps,  under  Buddhist  princes,  have  abeady 
become  masters  of  Ceylon,  although  the  conquest  of  that 
island  by  a  prince  of  the  great  Gupta  Une  dates  back  only 
to  the  fifth  century  of  our  era. 

Long  before  that  time,  in  the  first  centui-y  b.c,  another 
race  of  conquerors  had  overrun  Saurashtra,  the  modern 
Katiawar.  In  the  country  once  ruled  by  Krishna  and  his 
Jat  successors,  the  Sahs,  an  Ai-yan  tribe  from  Persia, 
founded  a  dynasty  which,  about  four  centuries  later,  gave 
way  to  the  prowess  of  the  Gupta  kings.  These  latter 
seem  for  a  time  to  have  wielded  over  the  greater  part  of 
India  a  leadership  akin  to  that  which  Athens,  Sparta,  and 
Thebes  successively  claimed  over  the  rest  of  Greece,  and 
which  the  Bretwaldas  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy  wielded 
over  then-  feUow-princes.  The  strongest  of  the  Indian 
rulers  for  the  time  being  would  win  for  himself  the  title  of 
Maharajah  Adiraj — Lord  Paramount  of  the  Old  Empire — 
and  that  title  his  successor  was  fi-ee  to  keep,  if  he  could. 
It  was  held  from  time  to  time  by  six  of  the  Gupta  princes, 
whose  sway  at  one   period   extended   from   Katiawar   to 

*  Java  seems  to  have  derived  its  name  from  the  Yavanas  j  the  Javaa 
of  Scripture,  the  Ionian  Greeks  of  history. 


20  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Ceylon.  In  the  middle  of  the  first  century  before  Christ 
it  was  held  apparently  by  Vikram-Aditya,  a  prince  of  the 
Andhra  dynastj*,  whose  sway  extended  from  Magadha,  the 
erewlule  seat  of  King  Asoka's  power,  through  Central  India 
to  the  modem  Haidarabad  in  the  Dakhan.  Descended  from 
a  powerful  Rajput  tribe,  whom  legend  traces  back  to  one 
of  four  Agnikiil  brothers — "  Sons  of  Fire  " — evolved  by 
Brahman  spells  from  the  sacrificial  fires  of  Mount  Abu  in 
Gujarat,  in  order  to  go  forth  and  rescue  India  from  the 
curse  of  Buddhism,  King  Vikram  held  his  court  at  Ujain* 
in  Malwa,  and  became  the  Hariin  al  Kashid  of  Indian 
story.  His  great  victory  over  the  Shakas — the  classic 
Sacs — who  had  swooped  down  upon  the  plains  of  Upper 
India  from  the  highlands  of  Kamaon,  signahsed  the  early 
years  of  a  long  and  glorious  reign.  In  him,  after  ages 
cherished  the  memory  of  an  upright  king  and  a  steady 
patron  of  art  and  learning.  Later  Hindu  fabulists  were 
never  weary  of  weaving  legends  in  praise  of  Indra's  god- 
like grandson,  who  "  brought  the  whole  eai'th  under  the 
shadow  of  one  umbrella,"  whose  court  was  adorned  vrith 
the  foremost  poets  and  wisest  thinkers  of  his  day,  and  the 
beginning  of  whose  reign  has  served  to  mark  a  new  era  in 
Hindu  chronology.!  Among  those  who  had  the  largest 
share  of  Viki-am's  bounty  were  the  "  Nine  Gems  of  Science"; 
one  of  whom,  the  poet  Kiilidiisa,  still  charms  the  hearts  of 
his  living  countrymen  with  the  honied  tenderness  of  his 
"  Messenger  Cloud,"  and  the  thick-clustering  fancies  of 
his  di'amatic  masterpiece,  "  Sakimtala." 

In  their  victorious  march  southward  the  Aiyan  Hindus 
appear  to  have  encountered  a  people  almost  as  civUised  as 
themselves,  but  speaking  a  language  yet  nearer  to  that 

*  Ujain,  one  of  the  seven  sacred  cities  of  the  Hindus,  now  belongs 
to  Sindia,  the  sovereign  of  Gwalior.  The  ruins  of  the  old  city  lie 
about  a  mile  to  the  north  of  its  modem  namesake. 

t  The  Sambat  era,  as  established  by  Vikram,  dates  from  56  B.C.,  and 
is  still  the  recognised  era  of  the  Hindu  calendar. 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


27 


primfBval  tongue  of  which  even  Sanslu-it  was  only  a  later 
offshoot.  These  earlier  settlers  may  have  built  the  crom- 
lechs and  dolmens,  and  carved  the  funeral  urns,  of  which 
so  many  traces  are  found  in  the  regions  south  of  the 
Narbadha,  where  some  form  of  Tamil  is  still  the  prevail- 
ing tongue.  New  invaders  in  their  turn  pressed  from  time 
to  time  on  the  first  Ai-yan  settlements  in  Northern  India. 
Kashmir,  the  ancient  seat  of  a  Kuru  dynasty,  was  overrun 
by  Scythian  tribes,  who  appear  to  have  mingled  their 
own  snake-worship  with  the  Buddhism  ah-eady  imported 
thither.*  Later  still  a  Tartar  dynasty  ruled  in  ihevc  stead, 
and  bequeathed  to  its  own  successors  some  noble  monu- 
ments of  architectural  skill.  Other  tribes,  whether  of 
Scythian  or  Tartar  origin,  left  their  mark  upon  the  country 
watered  by  the  Ganges  and  the  Brahmaputra,  and  even 
made  their  way  down  the  sea-board  of  Orissa.  Tradition 
likewise  tells  of  the  Yavans,  whose  name  marks  their 
Ionic  or  Greek  extraction,  as  foimding  settlements  in 
Kashmir  and  Sindh,  and  finally,  in  our  own  era,  ruling 
Orissa  for  a  century  and  a  half. 

Amid  all  such  events,  however,  the  candid  historian 
must  still  grope  his  way  with  much  care  and  many  mis- 
givings, content  to  rescue  a  few  waifs  of  seeming  fact  from 
the  darkness  that  everywhere  broods  around  him.  To 
trace  events  in  their  proper  sequence  becomes  a  hopeless 
task  when  the  events  themselves  are  shrouded  in  deceitful 
twilight,  or  lost  in  a  tangle  of  decayed  traditions.  How 
much  are  we  to  believe,  for  instance,  of  that  old  story, 
which  represents  the  Assyrian  queen  Semiramis  as  leading 
her  myi-iads  of  horse  and  foot  over  the  Indus,  with  thousands 
of  camels  disguised  as  elephants,  whose  panic-flight  before 
the  real  elephants  hurled  against  them  by  King  Stabrobates 

*  The  terra  Sci/thian  lia3  often  been  misemployed  as  a  synonym  for 
Tartar  or  Tibelan,  In  point  of  fact  the  true  Scythi;m  belonged  to  a 
pure  Aryan  stock  ;  perhaps  to  that  branch  of  it,  the  Gothic,  which 
furnished  the  forefathers  of  Saxon  England. 


28  HISTOEV    OF    INDIA. 

caused  the  invading  hosts  to  scatter  in  disastrous  rout  ? 
The  story  itself,  however  unknown  to  the  travelled  Hero- 
dotus, and  incredible  in  the  shape  traced  out  by  the  pens 
of  Ctesias  and  Diodorus,  need  not  be  scouted  as  abso- 
lutely untrue.  Nor  is  there  anything  wildly  improbable 
in  the  story  of  a  much  more  successful  inroad,  accom- 
plished in  the  tenth  century  before  Christ  by  the  troops  of 
the  Egj'ptian  Ramses  II. 

There  is  surer  ground  perhaps  for  beUeving  in  a  partial 
conquest  of  India  by  the  troops  of  the  Persian  Darius 
Hystaspes,  a  near  successor  to  the  throne  of  Cvrus  the 
Great.  Fired  by  glowing  tales  of  the  rich  and  po- 
pulous countries  which  his  admiral  Scylas  had  passed 
through  on  his  memorable  voyage  down  the  Indus,  that 
monarch  carried  his  arms  across  the  same  river,  as  far  as 
the  great  desert  which  divides  Sindh  fi-om  Eajputana. 
From  his  new  conquests,  which  may  have  included  the 
valley  of  the  Satlaj,  Darius  seems  to  have  drawn  a  richer 
tribute  than  from  any  of  his  other  provinces. 

About  two  centuries  later  a  yet  more  famous  conqueror 
stood  upon  the  banks  of  the  river,  whence  India  has  de- 
rived its  name.  Master  of  Persia  on  the  defeat  and  sub- 
sequent death  of  Darius,  the  last  king  of  his  line,  Alexander 
the  Great  of  Macedon  pushed  his  way  steadily  onwards 
tiirough  Balkh  and  Afghanistan,  over  the  mountains  of  the 
Hindu  Khusb,  through  the  rugged  gorges  of  the  Khaibar, 
until  his  war-worn  legions  reached  the  Indus  flo-ning  in 
swift  stream,  not  far  from  Atak.  Between  the  Indus  and 
the  Jhilam — the  classic  Hydaspes — he  met  only  with 
friends,  one  of  whom,  Taxiles  or  Takshailas,  appears  to 
have  offered  his  own  aid  against  his  powerful  neighbour, 
Porus  or  Piiru,  whose  sway  extended  from  the  Jhilam  to 
Hastinapur  on  the  Ganges.  The  youthful  conqueror  of 
Greece,  Persia,  and  Babylon,  caught  with  his  usual  eager- 
ness at  a  bait  so  tempting.  Two  hostile  armies  soon  faced 
each  other  on  the  banks  of  the  swollen  Hydaspes,  at  a  spot 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF    INDIA.  29 

since  memorable  for  the  passage  of  the  troops  with  which 
General  Gilbert  followed  up  Lord  Gough's  crowning  victory 
over  the  Sikhs  at  Gujarat.  On  the  left  bank  of  the  river, 
just  below  where  it  branches  into  several  streams,  Porus 
had  arrayed  his  host,  the  flower  of  the  warrior-tribes  of 
Upper  India.  Alexander's  strategy,  however,  served  him 
well.  Under  cover  of  a  dark,  stormy  night  he  carried  a 
choice  body  of  troops  over  the  several  branches  of  the 
main  stream,  and  with  the  first  streaks  of  morning  bore 
swiftly  down  upon  his  opponent's  flank  and  rear.  Porus 
discovered  the  movement  too  late  ;  but  the  courage  with 
which  he  maintained  a  hopeless  struggle,  after  half  his 
troops  had  left  the  field,  won  for  him  the  forbearance  of  a 
conqueror  in  whose  ambition  there  was  nothing  mean. 
Treating  the  captive  monarch,  as  Porus  himself  had  asked 
to  be  treated,  "  like  a  king,"  Alexander  took  him  into  friend- 
ship, restored  him  to  his  throne,  and  even  enlarged  bib 
frontiers  with  new  conquests. 

After  founding  two  cities  on  the  scene  of  his  late  suc- 
cesses, the  conqueror  led  most  of  his  troops  across  the 
Chemib  and  the  Kavi.  On  the  left  bank  of  the  Beyas,  or 
Hydrostes,  he  encountered  a  large  but  ill-disciplined  force 
gathered  together,  it  seems,  from  the  neighbouring  hills. 
This  he  routed  with  heavy  slaughter,  in  spite  of  a  brave 
defence.  Pushing  on  to  the  Satlaj — the  classic  Hyphasis 
— he  would  have  carried  his  veterans  even  to  Palibothra, 
the  far-famed  capital  of  Magadha,  the  Gangetic  kingdom 
then  ruled  by  a  Takshak*  prince  of  the  Nanda  dj-nasty, 
which  had  flourished  there  for  nearly  four  hundred  years. 
But  the  men  who  had  followed  him  so  far  in  quest  of  the 
world's  easternmost  bounds  at  length  refused  to  go  an 
inch  further.  Daunted  by  their  attitude,  or  moved  by 
their  just  complaints,  Alexander  unwUluigly  prepared  to 
retrace  his  steps.     Leaving  Porus,  it  is  said,  in  command 

*  The  word  "  Takshak"  seems  to  imply  the  eettlement  of  a  Daco- 
Scythian  people  in  the  valley  of  the  G-anges. 


30  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

of  seven  niitions  and  two  thousand  cities,  he  led  his  tired 
soldiers  back  to  the  Jhilam.  At  the  point  where  it  receives 
the  waters  of  the  Chenab,  not  far  from  JIultan,  he  himself 
with  part  of  his  army  embarked  for  a  voj-age  down  that 
river  to  its  junction  with  the  Indus,  and  thence  down  the 
Indus  to  the  sea,  whilst  his  heutenants,  Hepbastion  and 
Craterus,  marched  along  either  bank  to  the  appointed 
meeting-place.  A  journey  of  several  months,  imperilled  by 
the  attacks  of  hostile  tribes,  and  memorable  for  the  storm- 
ing of  a  stronghold  defended  by  the  Malli,  the  people  of 
Miiltan,  brought  the  whole  army  to  the  sea-coast.  Here 
Alexander  once  more  divided  his  forces.  "While  one  wing, 
under  Nearchus,  sailed  along  the  shores  of  the  Indian 
Ocean  and  the  Persian  Gulf  to  the  mouth  of  the  Euphrates, 
he  himself,  with  the  other,  marched  along  the  coast  amid 
the  dreary  sandhills  of  the  Gedrosian  desert,  known  to 
later  times  as  Beliichistan.  After  his  safe  return  to  Susa, 
the  great  Macedonian  still  cherished  the  hope  of  one  day 
planting  his  standard  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges,  of 
bringing  the  farthest  marts  of  India  into  close  commercial 
fellowship  with  the  valley  of  the  Euphrates  and  his  new 
Egyptian  capital  on  the  Mediterranean.  But  the  fever 
which  slew  him  at  Babylon,  three  years  afterwards,  in  the 
thlrty-thii-d  year  of  his  age,  cut  short  his  career  of  con- 
quest, and  put  off  for  many  centuries  the  fulfilment  of  his 
schemes  for  the  worldly  advancement  of  the  human  race. 

His  work,  however,  was  not  destined  to  be  all  in  vain. 
The  voyage  of  Nearchus,  itself  in  those  days  a  feat  of  bold 
seamanship,  prepared  the  way  for  new  voyages  of  dis- 
covery, which  finally  laid  the  whole  coast  of  Western 
India  open  to  Greek  adventurers  from  the  Bed  Sea  and 
the  Persian  Gulf.  If  Alexander's  empire  fell  to  pieces  on 
his  death,  the  ablest  of  his  generals  founded  Greek  dynas- 
ties which  long  held  sway  over  its  component  provinces. 
If  Babylon  gave  place  to  Seleucia  on  the  Tigris,  as  the 
gi-eat  mart  of  trade  with  the  countries  eastward  of  Meso- 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF    INDIA.  31 

potamia,  Alexandria  under  the  Ptolemies  grew  apace  into 
the  first  commercial  capital  of  the  civilised  world,  the 
common  reservoir  for  the  trade  of  three  continents.  Greek 
art  inspired  some  of  the  noblest,  if  not  the  earliest,  eflbrts 
of  Indian  architects  and  sculptors,  as  traceable  in  the  gi'eat 
Buddhist  domes  whose  ruined  masses  still  meet  the  eye, 
here  and  there,  on  the  road  from  Kabul  through  the  Pan- 
jab  to  the  banks  of  the  Kistna.  Greek  coins  discovered 
in  Afghan,  Panjabi,  and  Turkman  cities,  recal  the  days 
when  Greek  Seleucidse  and  their  successors  reigned  over  a 
Bactrian  kingdom,  stretching  at  one  time  from  Labor  to 
Samarkhand. 

"SMien  the  first  Seleucus  had  laid  firm  hold  on  the  eastern 
provinces  of  Alexander's  empire,  he  tui-ned  his  arms  against 
Chandragupta — the  Sandracottus  of  Greek  historians — 
who  had  annexed  the  kingdom  of  Magadha  to  the  country 
erewhile  ruled  by  Porus  and  Taxiles.  But  the  able  Greek 
soon  found  good  reason  to  make  peace  with  the  powerful 
Sudra  monarch,  who  remained  master  of  all  Alexander's 
conquests  eastward  of  the  Indus,  in  return  for  a  yearly  tri- 
bute of  fifty  elephants,  and  a  marriage  alliance  with  his 
late  foe.  A  Greek  envoy,  Megasthenes,  lived  for  many 
years  at  his  court  in  Palibothra,*  and  bore  memorable 
witness  to  the  peace,  order,  well-doing,  and  high  enlighten- 
ment that  prevailed  throughout  the  realm.  His  son, 
Mitra-Gupta,  renewed  the  treaties  with  Seleucus,  and  after 
a  reign  of  twenty-five  years  handed  on  the  sceptre  of  the 
Mauryan  line  to  his  Uke-minded  heir  Asoka,  the  extent  of 
whose  sway  is  marked  by  the  stone  piUars  engraved  in 
Pali,  the  spoken  Sanskrit  of  his  day,  which  have  been 
traced  from  Orissa  even  to  Kabul.  During  his  long  reign 
of  thirty-seven  years  this  wise  and  beneficent  ruler  made 
justice  easy  of  access  to  the  poorest  of  his  subjects,  and 

*  The  site  of  this  great  city,  ten  mUes  long  by  two  broad,  with  its 
sixty  gates,  57-t  towers,  and  moat  thirty  cubits  deep,  has  been  placed 
by  different  writers  at  Allahabad,  Patna,  Kajmahal,  and  Bhagalpur. 


82  HISTOEY    OF    INDIA. 

outdid  even  his  grandfather  in  the  success  of  his  efforts  to 
encourage  trade,  learning,  and  every  civilised  art.  The 
first  Indian  monarch  who  openly  embraced  Buddhism,  he 
may  have  presided  also  at  the  birth  of  that  now  architec- 
ture which  tells  its  own  tale  of  Greek  example,  moulding 
the  handiwork  of  the  earUest  native  architects  in  stone.* 

Thirty  years  after  the  death  of  Asoka,  which  happened 
about  226  B.C.,  the  great  Mauryan  dynasty  gave  place  to 
that  of  the  Sanga  princes,  who  displayed  their  zeal  for  the 
faith  of  Buddha  by  building  massive  "  topes  "  and  hewing 
out  majestic  cave-temples  in  many  parts  of  their  broad 
realm.  These,  in  their  turn,  were  succeeded  about  a 
century  later  by  the  Andhra  line,  of  whose  greatest  prince, 
Vikram,  we  have  already  spoken.  Under  its  wide  sway 
the  greater  part  of  India  seems  to  have  flourished  for 
nearly  five  hundred  years.  It  may  have  been  a  king  of 
this  line,  perhaps  Vikram  himself,  whom  Strabo  has  de- 
scribed as  sending  an  embassy  to  Cfesar  Augustus  at 
Antioch,  a  few  years  after  Actium  had  made  Juhus'  nephew 
master  of  nearly  all  the  civilised  world.  Another  embassy 
to  the  same  potentate  appears  to  have  been  sent  about  the 
same  time  by  a  certain  "  King  Pandion,"  a  prince,  no 
doubt,  of  the  old  Pandyan  dynasty  whose  reign  of  two 
thousand  years  over  part  of  Southern  India  ceased  only 
with  the  Mohammadan  Conquest. 

It  was  about  a  century  later  that  some  ripples  from  the 
wave  of  a  new  religious  movement,  whose  birthplace  was 
Judffia,  first  broke  upon  the  farthest  shores  of  Southern 
India.     Tradition,  at  any  rate,  points  with  some  show  of 

*  According  to  Mr.  J.imes  Fergnsson  ("  Tree  and  Serpent  Worship"), 
the  great  Buddhist  "  tope  "  at  Sanchi  in  Malna  is  the  oldest  known 
specimen  of  pure  stone  architecture  in  Hindustan,  and  is  one  of  many 
built  by  Afrika  in  honour  of  Sakya  Miini.  General  Cunningham,  how- 
ever, would  assign  it  a  much  earlier  date.  Be  that  as  it  may,  its  gate- 
ways were  evidently  built  at  a  time  when  stone  was  beginning  to 
supersede  wood  for  building  purposes;  and  its  sculptures  show  clear 
traces  of  Greek  influence. 


EARLY    HISTORY    OF    INDIA.  33 

likelihood  to  Mailapiir,  or  Mount  St.  Thomas,  near  Madras, 
as  the  last  resting-place  of  India's  first  Christian  teacher, 
St.  Thomas  the  Apostle.*  In  the  second  century  of  our 
era  Demetrius,  Bishop  of  Alexandria,  sent  forth  the  eloquent 
Pantasnns  to  visit  and  instruct  the  native  Christians  of 
Malahar,  whose  desire  for  further  knowledge  of  the  new 
Gospel  some  Egyptian  sailors  had  brought  to  his  ears. 
Two  centuries  later  we  find  John,  Metropolitan  of  Persia, 
claiming  authority  over  the  Chi-istian  chm-ches  in  Southern 
India.  In  the  sixth  century  a  Christian  bishop,  consecrated 
in  Persia,  governs  his  Indian  flock  from  KaUanpiir,  near 
Mangalor,  and  Christian  villages  are  discovered  even  in 
Ceylon.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighth  century  we  see 
the  Christians  of  Malabar  hving  in  peace  and  comfort 
under  a  king  of  the  Chera  dynasty,  and  driving  a  busy 
trade  with  Persia  and  Egypt. 

About  a  century  and  a  half  later,  two  Syrian  priests 
from  Babylon  reach  Southern  India  on  a  mission  from 
their  Persian  Metropolitan,  and  make  new  converts  in  the 
country  ruled  by  the  friendly  Kajah  of  Travancore.  For 
some  part  of  the  tenth  century  a  Christian  rajah  seems  to 
have  reigned  in  Malabar.  In  the  course  of  years  the 
churches  of  Southern  India  mixed  up  with  their  own  sim- 
ple doctrines  some  of  the  ideas  and  usages  that  prevailed 
among  their  neighbours,  or  were  imported  by  missionaries 
from  the  Latin  Church.  In  the  last  year  of  the  sixteenth 
century  the  long  struggle  of  the  native  Christians  against 
the  claims  of  the  high-handed  and  unscrupulous  Menezes, 
the  Portuguese  Archbishop  of  Goa,  ends  in  the  temporary 

*  The  tradition  in  question  was  already  old  in  the  time  of  St.  Jerome, 
who  in  the  fourth  century  A.D.,  speaks  of  the  Divine  Vford  as  being 
everywhere  present,  "  with  Thomas  in  India,  with  Peter  at  Rome,  i'c." 
Long  before  then,  in  the  second  century  of  our  era,  happened  the 
mission  of  Pantasnus  to  the  Christians  of  Malabar,  as  described  by 
Clemens  Alexandrinus.  A  useful  sketch  of  the  early  Christian  Church 
of  Malabar  may  be  found  in  Rev.  J.  Lobley's  "  The  Church  and 
Churches  in  Southern  India,"  chap,  iv, 

D 


84  HISTORY    OP    INDIA. 

triumph  of  the  Roman  rale.  Fifty  years  later  one-half  of 
Rome's  new  subjects  threw  off  the  yoke  they  had  never 
loved,  and  renewed  their  old  allegiance  to  the  Patriarch  of 
Antioch.  To  this  day  the  Church  of  St.  Thomas,  however 
shattered  and  defaced  by  time  and  human  error,  still  owns 
many  thousand  worshippers  who,  whether  in  doctrine  or 
discipline,  have  never  bowed  the  knee  to  Rome. 

Let  us  return  for  a  moment  to  the  Indo-Macedonian 
kingdom  of  Bactria.  Among  the  kings  of  the  dynasty 
■which,  about  256  b.c,  succeeded  that  of  the  Seleucidae,  a 
prominent  place  is  due  to  Demetrius,  who  reconquered  the 
■western  provinces  of  the  Panjab  ;  to  his  successor  Eucra- 
tides,  who  carried  his  arms  still  further  eastward  ;  and  to 
Menander,  whose  sway  extended  over  the  Panjab  and  Sindh. 
In  the  beginning  of  the  first  century  before  Christ,  the 
Greek  rule  in  Bactria  and  the  adjacent  provinces  gives 
place  to  a  succession  of  dynasties,  Scythian,  Parthian, 
Turkish,  and  Hindu,  of  all  which  some  traces  have  been 
bequeathed  to  us  in  the  coins  discovered  and  deciphered 
by  modern  research.  Each  change  of  dynasty  is  marked 
by  a  change  in  the  language  of  the  legends  borne  upon  the 
coins.  Greek  gives  place  to  Sanskrit,  which  is  followed  in 
its  turn  by  later  forms  of  Aryan,  Turanian,  or  Semitic 
speech.  From  some  of  these  faithful  witnesses  to  the  past 
■we  learn  that  as  late  as  the  eighth  century  of  our  era 
Indian  princes  still  reigned  over  the  country  westward  of 
the  Indus,  from  Sindh  up  to  Kabul.* 


•  See  Professor  Wilson's  "  Ariana ; "  Prinsep's  "  Historical  Kesults," 
Slc. 


36 


CHAPTER  IV. 

CIVILISATION    OF    ARYAN    INDIA. 

During  the  long  period  of  which  we  have  thus  far  spoken, 
Aryan  India  seems  to  have  filled  a  commanding,  if  not  the 
veiy  highest  place  among  the  ci-vilised  races  of  that  old 
time.  In  almost  every  field  of  mental,  social,  and  political 
life,  the  early  Hindus  long  kept  ahead  of  their  Western 
kinsfolk.  Centuries  before  Pericles  ruled  or  Plato  wrote, 
their  village  communities  had  proved  their  extraordinary 
fitness  for  the  work  of  governing  themselves.  In  the 
sphere  of  philosophy  they  rose  to  heights  of  speculation 
hardly  matched  by  the  most  daring  subtleties  of  Aristotle, 
Spinoza,  Berkeley,  or  Kant.  Their  moral  and  religious 
theories  involved  some  of  the  highest  truths  conceivable  by 
human  wisdom.  As  subtle  thinkers  and  keen  logicians 
they  have  never  been  surpassed.  Their  oldest  poem,  the 
Ramiiyan,  teems  with  tender  and  holy  thoughts,  glows  all 
over  with  examples  of  every  virtue,  is  crowded  with  pic- 
tures of  fatherly  and  fraternal  love,  of  filial  submission,  of 
wifely  purity,  faithfulness,  self-surrender,  of  manly  tender- 
ness, courage,  firroness,  long-suflfering,  of  sexual  love  free 
from  all  earthlier  taint,  of  domestic  harmony,  social  well- 
being,  of  unaffected  pleasure  in  the  beautiful  things  of 
earth  and  air  and  human  handiwork.  Their  earliest 
writings,  whether  in  verse  or  prose,  reveal  the  great  pro- 
gress made  by  a  large-brained,  supple-witted  race  in  the 
arts  that  dignify,  adorn,  and  sweeten  hfe. 

In  astronomy  the  Hindus  of  the  Rig- Veda  had  already 
learned  to  mark  out  the  moon's  path  through  the  constel- 
d2 


86  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

lations,  to  divide  tlie  zodiac  into  twelve  signs  oi  stations 
answering  to  the  months  and  seasons  of  the  year,  to  mea- 
sure time  by  weeks,  months,  and  solar  years,  to  follow  the 
movements  of  the  planets,  and  to  fix  with  some  precision 
the  date  of  each  recurring  equinox  and  solstice.  A  few 
centuries  later  their  wise  men  had  begun  to  calculate 
eclipses,  to  mark  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes,  to  mea- 
sure the  orbits  of  the  moon  and  planets  ;  and  sought,  not 
quite  in  vain,  to  account  for  the  apparent  rising  and  setting 
of  the  sun.  Still  later,  in  the  sixth  century  of  our  era, 
Aryabhata  was  perhaps  the  first  in  India  who  taught  the 
spinning  of  the  earth  around  its  own  axis,  and  who  hit 
upon  the  true  theory  of  solar  and  lunar  eclipses.*  He  has 
been  called,  indeed,  the  founder  of  mathematical  and  astro- 
nomical science  in  India ;  and  certain  it  is,  that  whatever 
help  he  may  have  derived  from  older  Greek  researches  in 
those  fields,  his  own  discoveries  and  improvements  more 
than  repaid  the  debt. 

In  the  twelfth  century  of  our  era  Bhaskar-Acharya  of 
Ujjain  had  forestalled  by  five  hundred  years  the  analytical 
methods  of  Newton  and  Leibnitz.  Long  before  his  day, 
centimes  even  before  Aryabhata,  the  Hindus  had  begun  to 
work  out  many  of  the  higher  problems  in  algebra.  In 
arithmetic  they  invented  decimals,  and  the  letters  of  the 
Sanskrit  alphabet  supplied  the  numerals  which  modem 
Europe  derived  directly  from  Arabia.  Their  medical 
writings  prove  their  early  proficiency  in  the  art  of  healing. 
They  seem  to  have  been  clever  surgeons,  shrewd  in  de- 
tecting the  sources  and  symptoms  of  disease,  alive  to  the 
saving  virtues  of  proper  diet.  They  knew  the  value  of 
human  dissection,!  and  the  medicinal  uses  of  mercury 
and  other  minerals.  Inoculation  for  small-pox  seems  to 
have  been  known  to  them  fi-om  a  very  early  age.     Their 

*  He  was  bom  near  Patna  about  ad.  47G. 

t  The  practice  of  dissection  was  greatly  hampered,  of  course,  by  the 
strength  of  religious  prejudice. 


CIVILISATION    OF   ARYAN    INDIA.  37 

chemical  knowledge  was  far  from  despicable.  Greek 
and  Ai'abic  physicians  borrowed  freely  from  the  medical 
science  of  India  ;  and  the  IQialifs  of  Bagdad,  especially 
the  far-famed  Hariin  al  Kashid,  set  no  little  store  by  the 
Hindu  physicians  who  visited  or  held  posts  in  their 
court.* 

From  the  days  of  Manu's  Code,  ancient  India  possessed 
a  noteworthy  system  of  law  which,  after  weathering  the 
Mohammadan  Conquest,  still  guides  and  bounds  the  latest 
eflforts  of  Anglo-Indian  lawmakers.  In  the  study  of  gi'am- 
mar,  or  word-lore  in  its  highest  and  widest  sense,  the 
Hindus  were  deeply  versed  as  far  back  as  the  sixth  or 
seventh  century  before  Christ.  Their  grammar,  like  their 
astronomy,  may  have  sprung  from  the  depth  of  their 
religious  instincts.  K  the  need  of  fixing  the  exact  time 
for  a  given  sacrifice  first  made  them  astronomers,  the 
duty  of  understanding  what  they  prayed  or  chanted  led 
them,  it  seems,  to  study  the  meanings,  origins,  and 
arrangement  of  words.  Their  oldest  known  lexicon,  a 
work  even  now  of  acknowledged  value,  must  have  been 
written  more  than  two  thousand  years  ago.  Their  early 
literature,  viewed  as  art-work,  ranks  second  only  to  that 
of  ancient  Greece.  The  one  bears  to  the  other  the  same 
kind  of  relation  which  some  great  Hindu  temple  beai's  to 
the  Parthenon.  An  old  Sanskrit  play,  poem,  or  romance, 
if  it  lacks  the  severe  symmetry,  the  classic  grace  of  Homer 
or  Sophocles,  recalls  the  teeming  luxuriance  of  an  Eastern 
landscape,  filled  with  the  weii-d  sheen  of  a  tropical  moon. 
At  once  the  wildest  of  dreamers  and  the  most  subtle  of 
thinkers,  the  old  Hindus  produced  great  poets,  philoso- 
phers, fabulists,  story-tellers,  but  not  one  historian  of 
even  the  smallest  mark.  "Sweet  Sakuntala"  was  the 
delight  of  Gennany's  greatest  poet.  The  "  Hitopadesa,  or 
Fables  of  Pilpay,"  have  during  the  last  twelve  centmies 

*  Mrs.  Manning's  ■'  Ancient  and  Mediffival  India,"  vol.  i.  chap.  18. 


88  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

been  translated  into  almost  every  civilised  tongue.*  The 
epics  of  Valmiki,  Vyasa,  and  Kalidasa ;  the  dramatic, 
lyrical,  and  pastoral  poems  of  KaUdusa,  Bhavabhuti,  Jaya- 
deva  ;  the  collection  of  prose  stories  preserved  from  an 
immemorial  past,  all  attest  the  range  and  fruitfulness  of 
the  Hindu  imagination,  and  abound  with  passages  unsur- 
passed for  beauty  by  any  writings  in  the  world.  Only  for 
the  Muse  of  History  does  Aryan  India  provide  no  pedestal. 
Roaming  childUke  in  a  marvellous  dreamland,  gazing  with 
rapt  eye  into  the  essence  and  the  mystery  of  things,  or 
clothing  with  ideal  graces  the  scenes  and  characters  of  its 
pourtrajdng,  the  Hindu  mind  seems  to  have  always 
spumed  the  cold  rules  of  historic  inquiry,  to  have  treated 
past  dates  and  events  as  mere  aids  to  the  weaving  ol 
poetic  fancies,  or  rehgious  fables.  Indian  chronology, 
such  as  it  is,  deals  with  myriads  and  even  millions  of  years  : 
while  the  kings  and  heroes  of  Indian  story  live  to  an  age 
far  beyond  that  of  any  recorded  in  the  Jewish  Scriptures. 

Hindu  plays  were  often  accompanied  by  music  of  a 
sweet  and  plaintive  kind,  and  the  pathetic  airs  of  Bengal 
have  been  likened  by  Su'  William  Jones  to  the  wild  but 
charming  melodies  of  the  Scotch  Highlanders.  In  the 
sister  ai'ts  of  sculptui-e  and  architecture  the  old  Hindus 
attained  a  pitch  of  excellence  to  which  the  ruined  topes  of 
Sanchi  in  Malwa  and  Amravati  on  the  Kistna,  the  care 
temples  of  Karh,  Ajanta,  EUora,  and  Elephanta,  the 
pagodas  of  Tanjor  and  Mahabalipur,  bear  memorable 
witness.!      The    carven  pOlars  and   gateways   of  Sanchi 

*  A  stUl  older  version  of  the  Hitopadesa  was  found  by  Professor 
Wilson  in  the  Panchatnnira,  or  "  Five  Sections,"  which  coincides  in  the 
main  with  the  work  ascribed  to  Pilpay  or  Bidpai. 

t  The  old  Buddhist  topes,  of  great  but  still  undefined  antiquity, 
were  almost  solid  domes  of  brick  or  stone  and  plaster,  rising  out  of  a 
low  basement,  and  crowned  by  a  pillared  Thee  or  relic-box,  over  which 
stood  the  mystic  "  umbrella."  The  tope,  which  served  as  a  burial- 
vault,  a  relic-shrine,  or  a  sort  of  temple,  was  usually  surrounded  bv  ;i 
rail  of  massive  stone-work,  richly  sculptured,  and  divided  by  four  tall 
gateways.    (Fergusson's  "  Tree  and  Serpent  Worehip.") 


CmHSATION    OF    ARYAN    INDIA. 


89 


come  midway  between  the  art  of  Greece  and  Egjpt ;  and 
the  friezes  of  Amravati,  a  few  centuries  younger,  have  the 
rich  variety  and  flowing  life-Uke  gi'ace  that  mark  the 
sculptures  of  medifeval  Europe.  In  the  rock-hewn  halls 
and  temples  of  the  same  or  of  somewhat  later  times,  the 
massive  pillars  are  often  reheved  with  tasteful  fi-etwork, 
and  the  broad  flat  roofs  panelled  out  with  carved  and 
coloured  scrolls,  as  graceful  as  those  that  adorn  the  Baths 
of  Titus,  and  the  best  houses  in  Pompeii.  The  Viharas, 
or  convents  of  Ajanta,  near  Bombay,  contain  fresco  paint- 
ings of  high  merit,  whose  age  may  be  reckoned  at  four- 
teen hundred  years.  Grandeur  of  form,  combined  with 
no  small  beauty  of  detail,  distinguishes  many  of  the  old 
temples  in  Southern  India.  The  Great  Pagoda  of  Tan- 
jor,  dating  fi'om  the  tenth  century  of  our  era,  tapers 
upward  through  story  after  story  to  a  height  of  two  hun- 
dred feet.  The  wondrous  temple  of  Halibedu,  or  HaUa- 
beed,  in  Maisor,  buUt  by  a  Brahman  architect  for  a  Jain 
king,  is  carved  all  over  with  designs  of  such  exquisite 
beauty  that  they  stUl  form  models  for  the  carved  sandal- 
wood of  that  province.*  Orissa,  famed  for  the  worship 
of  Jagannath,  and  rich  in  architectural  remains,  can 
boast  of  a  temple  at  Buvaneswar  eleven  or  twelve  cen- 
turies old,  unsurpassed  for  lofty  and  solid  grandeur.  In 
Eajputana  the  temples  of  BaroUi  and  Chitor  claim  special 
notice  for  the  delicate  fulness  and  classic  grace  of  their 
sculptured  details.  The  massive  ruins  of  pillared  temples 
in  Kashmir  carry  us  back  to  the  first  centuries  of  our 
era,  and  seem  to  attest  the  influence  of  Greek  upon 
Indian  art.  India,  in  short,  abounds  in  architectural 
remains  of  exceeding  beauty  and  gi'eat  age,  in  the  shape 
of  temples,  palaces,  tanks,  colonnades,  bridges,  castles, 
and  fortified  towns,  many  of  which  in  the  beginning  of 


*  Bowring's  "Eastern  Experiences";  Fergusson's  "History  of  Ar- 
chitecture." 


40  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

the  fifth  century  charmed  the  gaze  of  the  Chinese  travel- 
ler Fa  Hian. 

In  works  of  engineering  skiU,  Southern  India  appears 
to  have  excelled  from  the  earhest  times.  The  tanks  and 
reservoii-s,  which  everj-where  feed  the  country  with  water 
gathered  from  a  thousand  streams  and  from  skies  laden 
with  tropical  moisture,  are  often  of  vast  size,  with  stone- 
faced  embankments  fifty  feet  wide,  and  sluices  admirably 
fitted  for  their  work.  In  old  days,  when  iron  was  plen- 
tiful, India  won  the  name  she  has  not  yet  lost  for  skill  in 
the  making  of  fine  steel.  The  best  of  the  Damascus 
blades  have  been  traced  to  the  workshops  of  Western 
India.  For  skilful  or  artistic  workmanship  in  gold,  silver, 
and  other  metals,  in  ivory,  earthenware,  muslins,  wooUens, 
brocades,  and  precious  stones,  the  artisans  of  India  were 
renowned  ages  before  our  English  forefathers  landed  in 
Britain.  From  the  earliest  recorded  dates  the  Hindus 
appear  to  have  been  active  merchants,  neat-handed  work- 
men, and  patient  farmers.  It  is  probable  that  the  gold  of 
Ophir,*  it  is  certain  that  the  spicery  borne  by  Arab 
traders  to  Egypt  in  the  time  of  Joseph  came  from  Indian 
marts.  The  pepper  of  modern  trade  is  still  caUed  by  its 
old  Indian  name.  It  was  out  of  Indian  ivory  that  Phidias 
carved  his  statues  of  Minerva  and  the  Olympian  Jove.t 
Indigo,  as  its  name  denotes,  was  an  old  Indian  product, 
known  to  Europe  in  the  time  of  Pliny,  if  not  before. 
From  the  same  country  came  the  sugar,  which,  introduced 
into  Europe  by  Greek  merchants,  betrays  its  Indian  origin 
ia  the  name  it  still  bears  throughout  the  civilised  world. { 

•  AccordiDg  to  ilai  MuUer.  Ophir  was  the  same  as  Malabar. 

t  From  the  Sanskrit  ibha  came  the  Latin  ebur  and  our  irory.  The 
Greek  elepkas  may  be  another  form  of  the  same  word.  "  India  mittit 
ebnr,"  "  Quicquid  gemmarum  prodiga  mittit  India  ; "  "  Prabet  odor- 
atas  quia  discolor  India  messes,"  are  among  the  references  that  crop 
up  in  the  Latin  poetry  of  the  Augustan  age. 

I  Our  word  "sugar,"  German  awter,  Greek  sacckaron,  evidently 
came  from  the  Sanskrit  and  Persian  "  shakhar." 


CmLISATION    OF    AEy.VS    INDIA.  41 

In  the  first  century  of  our  era  rich  streams  of  merchan- 
dise flowed  from  many  a  port  of  Western  India  to  feed 
the  gi-owing  luxury  of  Imperial  Rome.  Long  before  then, 
as  we  know  from  Manu's  Code,  Indian  bankers  issued 
their  bills  of  exchange,  and  merchants  insured  their  ven- 
tures by  land  and  sea.  Their  character  for  enterprise, 
honesty,  and  shrewdness,  stood  high  in  the  days  of  Marco 
Polo,  who  visited  Southern  India  a  few  years  before  its 
great  wealth  in  gold  and  jewels  tempted  the  first  inroads 
of  Mohammadan  conquerors.  Then,  as  now,  the  fish- 
charmers  on  the  Coromandel  coast  levied  a  handsome 
profit  from  the  pearl-divers,  whose  safety  they  pretended 
by  their  magical  arts  to  secure.  Already  Arab  pirates 
were  preying  on  the  sea-borne  trade  of  the  countr}",  and 
all  direct  intercom'se  between  India  and  Europe  had  long 
since  come  to  an  end.  But  a  busy  trade  had  sprung  up 
with  China  and  Japan,  while  the  cotton,  indigo,  hides, 
agates,  and  fine  muslins  of  Gujarat,  the  pepper,  ginger, 
and  peacocks  of  Quilon,  the  diamonds  of  Golconda,  the 
"  woven-aii- "  musUns  of  Masulipatam,  the  pearls  of  Tan- 
jor,  stUl  made  their  way  through  Egypt  and  Mesopotamia 
to  the  West. 

The  practice  of  Satti  or  widow-burning,  which  Marco 
Polo  found  in  full  swing,  appears  to  have  been  unknown 
in  the  days  of  Alexander.  It  was  certainly  unknown  to 
the  Hindus  of  the  Yedic  period.  As  far  back  as  the  reign 
of  Chandi-agupta,  the  country  was  covered  with  thriving 
villages,  relieved  here  and  there  by  royal  cities  of  vast 
circuit  and  stately  adornment.  Palibothra,  the  capital  of 
that  monarch's  realm,  is  said  to  have  been  ten  miles  long 
and  two  broad,  with  sixty  gates,  and  more  than  five  hun- 
dred towers  along  its  outer  wall.  According  to  the  author 
of  the  Eamayan,  the  ancient  city  of  Ayodhya,  near 
the  modern  Faizabad,  had  a  length  of  twenty-four  and  a 
depth  of  three  miles.  Broad  roads,  some  of  them  hned 
with  canals,  ran  past  noble  squares,  smiling  gardens,  well- 


42  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

built  houses,  stately  temples,  and  palaces  alive  with 
spleiidid  pageantry.  Chariots,  wagons,  elephants,  horses, 
streamed  to  and  fro,  bearing  choice  merchandise,  "gay 
sleek  people"  in  quest  of  pleasure,  envoys  from  distant 
kings,  or  "  bands  of  heroes  skilled  in  every  warlike 
weapon."  Everywhere  busy  artisans  plied  their  calling, 
holy  men  chanted  the  Vedas,  damsels  danced  and  min- 
strels sang  their  verses  to  the  music  of  tabret  and  lute. 
The  poorest  man  in  the  city  earned  for  his  day's  labour  a 
piece  of  gold.  The  women,  says  the  poet,  were  fair  to 
see,  gi'aceful,  modest,  of  a  charming  wit ;  and  each  man 
was  the  loyal  husband  of  one  wife.  Such  are  the  leading 
strokes  of  a  picture  which,  however  coloured  by  the  poet's 
fancy,  may  yet  be  taken  for  something  like  a  fair  present- 
ment of  Hindu  hfe  and  manners  thirty  centm'ies  ago.* 


*  The  "  Kamayan,"  translated  into  English  verse  by  E.  T.  H.  Griffith. 
M.A.    Book  I.  cantos  5  and  6, 


BOOK  II. 

THE   MOHAMMADAN   PERIOD. 
CHAPTER  I. 

EARLY    MOHAMMADAN    CONQUESTS,    A.D.   6G4 1288. 

For  several  hundred  years  of  our  era  uo  new  invader 
seems  to  have  gained  a  firm  footing  on  Indian  gi-ound.  In 
the  middle  of  the  sixth  century,  indeed,  during  the  reign 
of  Chosroes,  or  Nushirvan  the  Just,  the  greatest  Persian 
king  of  the  Sassanid  line,  who  fought  successfully  agaiust 
Justinian  himself,  the  Persian  arms  were  carried  for  a 
while  into  the  Rajput  territory  of  Surat.  But  Goha,  the 
son  of  the  Rajput  queen,  appears  in  due  time  to  have 
regained  his  lost  inheritance,  and  from  his  marriage  with 
the  granddaughter  of  the  Persian  king  sprang  a  hue  of 
princes  whose  descendants  still  rule  in  Udaipiir. 

A  hundred  years  later,  when  the  Ai-ab  followers  of 
Mahomet  had  already  overrun  Persia,  conquered  Egypt, 
BjTia,  Mesopotamia,  and  planted  the  standard  of  the 
crescent  in  a  few  years  after  Mahomet's  death  on  the 
banks  of  the  Oxus,  they  proceeded  to  turn  their  arms 
against   the   countries   watered   by  the   Indus.*     In   the 

*  "  There  is  no  God  but  Allah,  and  Mahomet  is  hii?  Apostle."  Such 
was  the  substance  of  the  doctrine  preached  to  his  counti-ytnen  bj 
Mahomet,  the  whilom  hermit  of  Mount  Hira,  the  high-born  son  of  Abd- 
aUah,  .in  Arab  chief  of  the  great  Koreish  tribe  at  Mecca.    Born  about 


44  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

year  664,  the  forty-second  after  the  Prophet's  flight  to 
Medina,  an  Arab  army  marched  from  Basrah,  on  the  Tigris, 
into  Sindh,  while  another,  in  quest  of  proselytes  and 
plunder,  set  out  for  Kabul.  The  conquest  of  ancient 
Bactria  seems  to  have  been  completed  in  fifty  years,  but 
Aryan  India  proved  a  harder  morsel  to  swallow.  Little, 
save  the  plunder  of  a  few  towns,  was  gained  in  this  first 
inroad  by  the  soldiers  of  Khalif  Moawiyah.  A  more  suc- 
cessful attack  on  Sindh  was  conducted  in  711  by  Mohammad 
Kasim,  who,  in  requital  of  some  wrong  said  to  have  been 
sustained  by  the  crew  of  an  Arab  merchant-ship,  saUed 
up  the  Indus  as  far  as  Alor,  the  capital  of  the  Sindian 
Eajah,  slaying  him  and  his  bravest  Rajputs  in  their  last 
hopeless  sally  from  the  hard-pressed  town,  and  storming 
several  other  cities  by  the  way.  Dahir's  brave  queen,  pre- 
ferring death  to  dishonour,  perished  in  the  flames  of  her  own 
palace  ;  but  one  of  her  daughters  lived,  it  seems,  to  grace 
the  haram  of  an  Arab  Khalif,  and  to  avenge,  as  the  story 

570  A.D..  Mahomet — or  more  correctly  Mohammad — began  in  his 
fortieth  year  to  declare  himself  a  messenger  sent  by  God  to  turn  his 
countrj-men  back  from  their  idol-worship  to  the  true  faith  as  handed 
down  by  Abraham,  Moses,  and  Jesus  Christ.  Belief  and  thorough 
trust  in  one  righteous  God,  who  rewards  each  man  hereafter  according 
to  his  deserts,  formed  the  gi"oundwork  of  a  new  religion  which,  as 
developed  in  the  Kor^n,  became  the  one  fountain  of  moral,  social,  and 
civil  law  to  many  millions  of  Mahomet's  followers  in  every  age.  Re- 
viled, persecuted,  threatened  with  death  by  his  fellow-citizens,  the 
prophet  of  Islam  in  622  fled  with  a  few  score  kinsmen  and  disciples  to 
Medina,  where  the  growing  numbers  and  strength  of  his  converts  ere 
long  tempted  him  to  draw  the  sword,  at  first  in  self-defence,  presently 
for  the  wide  extension  of  his  spiritual  sway.  Before  his  death  in  632, 
all  Arabia  had  submitted  to  his  rule,  and  the  Byzantine  emperor,  Hera- 
cUus,  had  been  threatened  with  an  attack  on  his  eastern  provinces. 
Twelve  years  afterwards  Persia  was  conquered  by  the  generals  of 
Khalif  Omar,  the  second  of  Mahomet's  successors,  whose  sway  ah-eady 
included  Syria  and  Egypt.  A  few  yeai-s  later  Bactria  shared  the  same 
fate,  and  the  Mohammadan  arms  and  faith  were  carried  to  the  Indus. 
Early  in  the  next  century  Spain  itself  succumbed  to  the  Arab  invader. 
In  every  case  the  conquered  people  had  to  choose  between  •'  the  Koran, 
tribute,  or  the  sword." 


THE    EAKLY    MOHAMMADAN    CONQUESTS.  45 

goes,  her  father's  fall,  by  causing  the  disgrace  or  death  of 
his  conqueror,  Kasim,  who  had  meanwhile  been  carrying 
his  master's  armu  and  religion  into  the  neighbouring  king- 
dom of  Gujarat.  Perhaps,  however,  his  defeat  by  the 
Kajput  chivalry  of  Chitor,  in  Mewar,  had  more  connection 
than  Arab  chroniclers  might  care  to  own  with  his  dis- 
appearance from  the  scene  of  his  first  successes.  Certain 
it  is  that  by  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century  not  a  trace 
of  Arab  rule  was  to  be  found  in  Western  India. 

Once  more,  in  a.d.  812,  the  countrymen  of  Mahomet, 
under  Mahmiid,  governor  of  I^Jiorasan,  a  son  or  kinsman 
of  the  great  Hariin  al  Rashid,  crossed  swords  with  the 
Kajput  warriors  of  Chitor.  But  Kamran,  great-grandson 
of  him  who  had  routed  Kasim,  summoned  to  his  aid  the 
princes  of  Northern  India,  and  once  more  the  old  Hindu 
prowess  drove  back  the  Mohammadan  invader  beyond  the 
Indus  and  the  Sulaiman  Hills.  Thenceforth  for  more  than 
a  century  and  a  half  the  peace  of  India  remained  unbroken 
by  enemies  from  without,  and  the  Hindus  might  claim  the 
honour  of  having  been  the  first  to  roll  back  that  tide  of 
conquest  which  had  hitherto  marked  the  progress  of  Islam. 

Their  day  of  suffering,  however,  was  to  come  at  last ; 
but  not  from  the  Arab  masters  of  Baghdad.  About  the 
year  913  Ismael  Samani,  a  Turk  of  that  race  which  has 
since  ruled  or  roved  from  Constantinople  to  Pekin,* 
founded  at  Bokhara  a  dynasty  which  for  the  next  hundred 
and  twenty  years  held  sway  over  Khorasan  and  other  out- 
lying pro\inces  once  ruled  by  the  Khalifs  of  Baghdad. 
The  fifth  prince  of  this  Samanid  line  had  a  Turkish 
slave  named  Alptagin,  who  won  his  way  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Kandahar  in  Afghanistan.     On  the  death  of  his 

*  The  Turks  of  modem  parlance  are  a  mere  branch  of  that  Turanian 
race,  which  has  given  its  name  to  Eastern  and  Western  Turkistan,  and 
furnished,  in  the  forms  of  Attila,  Chingiz  Khan,  and  Timur,  some  of 
the  greatest  conquerors  and  most  terrible  scourges  of  medieval  Europe 
and  Asia. 


46  HISTOKY    OF    INDIA. 

master,  Abd-al-Midik,  in  901,  Alptagin  voted  against  the 
son's  claim  to  succeed  his  father.  Suspected  of  intrigues 
against  the  new  king,  he  retired  to  Ghazni,  defeated  the 
troops  sent  out  against  him,  and  finally  carved  out  for 
himself  an  Afghan  kingdom,  which  fell  in  976  to  his 
favourite  slave  and  son-in-law,  Sabaktagin. 

At  this  time  the  country  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Indus 
was  ruled  by  a  Hindu  sovereign,  whose  capital  was  Labor. 
In  order  to  forestall  the  real  or  assumed  designs  of  his 
Turkish  neighbour,  Iiing  Jaipal  marched  a  large  army 
across  the  Indus  to  Laghman,  on  the  road  from  Peshawar 
to  Kabul.  The  hostile  armies  were  face  to  face,  when  a 
sudden  storm  spread  such  dismay  among  his  superstitious 
troops,  that  the  Hindu  monarch  was  driven  to  purchase  a 
safe  retreat  by  the  surrender  of  fifty  elephants  and  the 
promised  payment  of  a  large  sum  of  money. 

On  his  return  to  Labor,  however,  Jaipal  refused  to  pay 
the  price  of  his  salvation,  and  put  the  Mohammadan 
envoys  into  prison.  It  was  an  evil  hour  for  India  when 
he  preferred  the  crooked  counsels  of  bis  priests  to  those 
of  the  high-minded  warriors  who  urged  him  not  to  break 
his  kingly  word. 

After  disposing  of  his  other  enemies,  the  angry  Tartar 
once  more  hastened  towards  the  Indus,  seeking  vengeance 
for  the  insult  offered  him  through  bis  ambassadors.  Once 
more  the  hostile  armies  confronted  each  other  at  Laghman. 
On  Jaipal's  side  were  arrayed  the  flower  of  the  Hindu 
chivalry,  their  numbers  swollen  by  contingents  from 
Debli,  Ajmir,  Kabnga,  and  Kanauj.  The  abler  general, 
however,  won  the  day.  An  obstinate  fight  ended  in  the 
utter  rout  of  Jaipal's  warriors,  the  plunder  of  their  vast 
camp,  and  the  subjugation  of  the  Peshawar  valley. 

Thus  began  that  new  career  of  Mohammadan  conquest, 
which  led  in  due  time  to  the  subjection  of  all  India  under 
the  Moghals.  Mahmiid  of  Ghazni,  Sabaktagin's  son  and 
successor,  was  not  long  in  gratifying  alike  his  ambition  and 


THE    E.\KLY    MOHAMMADAN    CONQUESTS.  47 

his  religious  zeal  by  a  series  of  inroads  amongst  the  rich 
idolators  of  Hindustan.  In  November,  1001,  his  fiery 
Turks  and  Afghans  once  more  overthrew  vntb.  heavy 
slaughter  the  myriads  of  horse  and  foot  that  barred  his 
progress  through  the  Peshawar  valley.  Their  aged  leader, 
the  luckless  Jaipal,  himself  a  prisoner  at  the  close  of  that 
fatal  day,  was  ere  long  set  fi-ee  on  condition  of  paying  his 
conqueror  an  annual  tribute.  But  pride  or  reverence  for 
the  customs  of  his  forefathers  impelled  tbe  Eajah  to  court 
an  early  death  in  the  flames  of  his  own  funeral  pile  ;  and 
his  son  Anandpal  mounted  the  tottering  throne  of  Kashmir 
and  Labor. 

One  of  his  feudatories,  the  Rajah  of  Bhatnir,*  on  the 
northern  edge  of  what  is  now  the  Bikanir  Desert,  refused 
to  pay  his  share  of  the  promised  tribute.  Mahmud  turned 
upon  him  with  his  wonted  energy  ;  but  Bijai  Rai  and  his 
bold  Rajputs  fought  with  the  desperate  courage  of  their 
race,  and  not  till  after  many  repulses  did  the  Iconoclast 
Sultan  of  Ghazni  succeed  in  driving  them  into  their  last 
stronghold.  At  length  the  Rajah  slew  himself  in  his 
despair,  and  his  forfeit  realm  was  annexed  to  the  do- 
minions of  the  conqueror.  For  the  latter,  fresh  work  had 
meanwhile  been  cut  out  by  the  rebel  governor  of  Miiltan, 
which  had  passed  some  time  before  under  the  Jloham- 
madan  yoke.  This  business  settled  and  a  Tartar  inroad 
from  Kashgar  promptly  repelled,  Mahmud  once  more  set 
out  to  punish  the  Rajah  of  Labor  for  help  given  to  the 
Sultan's  foes. 

Again  a  gi-eat  Hindu  army,  gathered  from  all  parts  of 
Upper  India,  and  equipped  with  the  aid  of  money  raised 
on  the  gold  and  jewels  of  patriotic  Hindu  women,  crossed 
the  Indus  and  spread  out  in  magnificent  array  over  the 

*  It  waa  once  the  chief  city  of  Bhatiana,  or  the  land  of  the  Bhatis, 
an  old  Rajput  tribe,  traces  of  whose  former  civilisation  are  still  found  . 
in  the  many  ruined  towns  and  villages  scattered  over  the  sandy  wastes 
once  watered  by  the  Gagar  and  the  Chitang. 


48  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

broad  plain  that  stretches  np  to  the  Khaibar.  For  forty 
days  the  armies  faced  each  other.  At  length  the  Hindus 
advanced  to  the  attack,  or,  as  some  say,  to  meet  a  feint 
attack  on  the  part  of  Mahmud,  whose  skilful  soldiership 
made  up  for  his  inferior  numbers.  For  a  time  fortune 
smiled  on  Anandpal.  His  strong  contingent  of  ■wild  high- 
landers  from  Kashmir  soon  drove  the  Turkish  archers 
back  to  their  entrenchments  ;  the  main  Ime  of  Hindus 
swept  forward  as  sure  of  victory  over  the  hated  Moslem, 
when  suddenly  the  elephant  ridden  by  Anandpal  himself 
took  fright  at  the  arrows  and  burning  naphtha-balls,  and 
fled.  Other  elephants  followed  his  example.  Quick  to 
profit  by  the  consequent  disorder,  Mahmud  hurled  his 
Tartar  horsemen  in  masses  upon  the  foe.  That  day  their 
swords  drank  deep  of  blood,  if  it  be  true  that  twenty 
thousand  of  Anandpal's  soldiers  perished  on  the  field. 

The  plunder  of  Xagarkot  and  its  richly-endowed  temples 
sufliced  the  conqueror  for  that  present.  Three  years  later, 
however,  he  swooped  down  upon  the  yet  hoher  shrines  of 
Thanesar,  in  Sirhind,  only  sixty  miles  from  Dehli  itself. 
Before  the  Hindu  princes  could  rally  to  its  defence,  Mah- 
mud was  on  his  way  home,  laden  with  untold  wealth  in 
gold  and  jewels,  while  two  hundred  thousand  captives,  say 
the  Arab  chroniclers,  were  sold  as  slaves  among  the  people 
of  Ghazni.  StiU  thirsting  for  fresh  plunder,  the  Moslem 
hordes,  in  the  name  of  their  Prophet,  swept  down  the 
Jamna  as  far  as  Mattra,  in  the  j-ear  1017,  and  canied  off 
the  gold  and  silver  idols  from  a  hundred  shrines,  besides 
levying  rich  tribute  from  Kanauj  and  other  cities  in  their 
way. 

Mahmud's  heavy  hand  next  fell  upon  Anandpal,  who 
seems  to  have  leagued  with  other  princes  in  punishing  the 
Eajah  of  Kanauj  for  making  terms  with  the  invader.  La- 
bor, at  any  rate,  was  sacked  in  1021,  and  its  unfortunate 
monarch  fled  to  Ajmir.  Two  years  later  Gwahor  opened 
its  gates  to  the  formidable  Sultan.     But  the  best  remem- 


THE    EARLY    MOHAMIIADAN    CONQUESTS.  49 

bered,  if  not  the  greatest,  of  Malimud's  Indian  campaigns 
was  that  of  1024,  which  issued  in  the  captm-e  of  Somnath, 
on  the  coast  of  Gujarat,  one  of  the  holiest  and  wealthiest 
shrines  in  all  India.  Endowed  with  the  revenue  of  two 
thousand  villages,  and  blest  with  the  ministrations  of  as 
many  Brahmans,  to  say  nothing  of  the  hundreds  of  bar- 
bers, minstrels,  and  dancing-girls,  who  waited  on  the  pre- 
siding god,  this  far-famed  temple-stronghold  was  for  three 
days  besieged  in  vain.  At  length,  in  one  last  despaii-ing 
onset,  led  by  Mahmiid  himself,  the  besiegers  stormed  the 
place,  slaving  thousands  of  its  defenders,  and  dealing 
havoc  among  the  holy  things.  One  huge  idol  the  priests 
entreated  and  would  have  bribed  their  conquerors  to  spare. 
But  Mahmiid,  who  gloried  in  the  name  of  idol-breaker, 
struck  the  figure  -n-ith  his  mace  ;  the  blows  of  his  followers 
shattered  it  in  pieces ;  and  jewels  of  untold  value  rolled 
out  in  ghttering  heaps  upon  the  floor.*  Laden  with  these 
unforeseen  spoils  and  the  sandal-wood  gates  of  Somnath, 
the  plunder-loving  Sultan  marched  home  a  year  later 
through  the  dreary  deserts  of  Sindh,  where  thousands  of 
his  followers  perished  by  the  way.  Gujarat  itself,  like 
most  of  the  provinces  overnin  by  Mahmiid,  was  left  under 
the  sway  of  a  tributary  prince. 

In  the  year  1030,  soon  after  Persia  had  fallen  under 
the  yoke  of  Ghazni,  death  put  an  end  to  the  terrible 
Sultan's  career.  For  a  century  and  a  half  his  dynasty 
held  its  ground  with  varying  fortunes  iu  the  country 
beyond  the  Indus.  In  India,  however,  it  never  gained 
any  permanent  footing  eastward  of  Labor.  Mahmiid's 
espeditions,  indeed,  had  been  Kttle  else  than  enormous  raids, 
and  his  successors  were  too  busy  in  fighting  foes  nearer 
home  to  keep  in  order  their  Hindu  tributaries  between  the 
Satlaj  and  the  Ganges.  Before  the  middle  of  the  eleventh 
century  the  king  of  Dehh  threw  off  the  Moslem  yoke, 

*  Thornton  denies  the  truth  of  this  story  about  the  jewels,  as  having 
been  nnJaiown  to  the  earlier  chroniclers. 


50  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

other  princes  rallied  to  his  side,  and  but  for  the  desperate 
defence  of  its  starving  garrison,  Lahor  itself  would  have 
been  rescued  from  the  grasp  of  its  new  masters.  In  the 
middle  of  the  twelfth  century  that  city  became  the  last 
refuge  of  the  Ghaznevid  Sultans,  when  the  rest  of  their 
possessions  had  been  torn  from  them  by  the  Saljukian 
Turks  and  their  own  kinsmen,  the  Afghan  princes  of  Ghor. 
Thirty  years  later  the  descendants  of  Sabaktagin  ceased 
to  reign  in  thePanjab  also.  In  the  year  1186,  Shahab-nd- 
din  of  Ghor,  better  known  to  history  as  Mohammad  Ghori, 
crowned  his  former  successes  against  Khusru  Malik,  the 
Ghaznevid  Sultan  of  Lahor,  by  seizing  his  capital  and 
bearing  the  Sultan  himself  a  prisoner  to  Ghor,  where 
Mohammad's  elder  brother  then  held  his  com-t.  Master 
of  the  Panjab  from  Peshawar  to  Multiin,  Mohammad  pre- 
sently led  his  warriors  across  the  Satlaj  to  meet  the  alhed 
Hindu  hosts  of  DehU  and  Ajmir  on  the  banks  of  the 
sacred  Saraswati.  A  great  battle,  fought  near  Thanesar, 
ended  in  the  rout  of  the  invaders  ;  and  Mohammad,  after 
a  hot  pursuit,  was  glad  to  place  the  Indus  between  his 
shattered  forces  and  the  foe.  Two  years  later,  in  1193, 
the  beaten  prince,  burning  for  revenge,  threw  out  fresh 
Bwarms  of  horsemen  over  the  fair  fields  of  Sirhind. 
Prithiraj,  King  of  Dehli,  his  former  foe,  awaited  him  on 
the  old  battle-field,  at  the  head  of  an  immense  array  of 
horse  and  foot,  marshalled  imder  the  foremost  princes 
of  Hindustan.  The  night  before  the  battle  which  was  to 
decide  the  fate  of  so  many  ancient  kingdoms  was  spent  by 
the  Hindus  in  careless  merriment,  by  the  Turks  in  quiet 
preparations  for  attack.  Before  dawn  Mohammad  had 
crossed  the  Saraswati  and  weU-nigh  taken  his  opponents 
unawares.  Still,  with  ranks  hastily  formed,  they  withstood 
for  a  time  his  most  determined  onsets.  At  length  he 
ordered  a  retreat.  The  Hindus,  in  the  eagerness  of  their 
pursuit,  fell  into  disorder.  Twelve  thousand  Turkish 
horsemen,  led   by  Mohammad    himself,  thundered  down 


TEE    EARLY    MOHilDIADAN    CONQUESTS.  51 

into  their  broken  ranks.  The  best  and  bravest  of  their 
leaders  were  slain  or  captured,  and  the  shattered  remnants 
of  that  proud  army  fled  from  a  field  reeking  with  the 
blood  of  their  dead  and  dying  countrymen. 

On  that  fatal  day  Aryan  India  lost  far  more  than  thou- 
sands of  precious  lives  and  the  accumulated  treasures  of 
a  vast  camp.  From  this  second  battle  of  Narayan  dates 
the  true  beginning  of  India's  long  subjection  to  Moham- 
madan  rule.  After  staining  his  victory  with  the  slaughter 
of  his  royal  captive,  Prithiraj,  and  of  many  thousand 
Hindus  whom  the  storming  of  Ajmir  thi'ew  into  his 
clutches,  the  resolute  Ghorian  made  over  his  new  con- 
quests to  his  ablest  general,  Kutab-ud-din,  who  speedOy 
carried  his  arms  as  far  south  as  Koel,  the  modem  AJigarh, 
and  fixed  the  seat  of  his  government  in  Dehli  itself.  Next 
year  Mohammad,  with  a  fresh  army,  returned  from  Ghazni 
to  overthrow  the  immemorial  kingdom  of  Kanauj  and 
destroy  or  defUe  the  temples  of  idolatrous  Hindus  at 
Banaras.  On  this  occasion  the  Rhators  of  Kanauj,  one  of 
the  oldest  Kajput  tribes,  sought  honourable  exile  among 
the  rocks  and  sandhills  of  Marwar,  where  they  founded 
the  stiU-existent  kingdom  and  dynasty  of  Jodpur. 

Year  by  year  the  Mohammadan  arms  were  carried  by 
Mohammad  or  his  generals,  with  almost  unvarying  success, 
now  westward  of  the  Jamna  to  Gwahor,  Chitor,  and  even 
Gujarat,  anon  down  the  valley  of  the  Lower  Ganges  into 
the  heart  of  Bengal.  If  the  Kajput  princes  of  Upper 
India  fought  long  and  manfully  against  their  doom,  it  took 
Kutab-ud-din's  soldiers  but  one  year  to  bring  the  rich 
plains  and  populous  cities  of  Bengal  under  the  Moslem 
yoke.  Nadiya,  the  Hindu  capital,  was  given  over  to 
plunder,  and  the  seat  of  the  new  government  fixed  at 
Gaur,  on  a  branch  of  the  Lower  Ganges,  a  city  whose 
vast  circuit  of  verdure-covered  ruins  stiU  reveals  some 
noteworthy  traces  of  Mohammadan  genius  in  the  domain 
of  architecture.     Ruthless  in  destroying  the  idols  and  pU- 

£2 


52  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

laging  the  holy  places  of  the  Hindus,  the  Mussulman  con- 
querors of  India  in  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centui'ies 
adorned  their  cities  with  mosques,  palaces,  tombs,  and 
other  buildings,  conspicuous  for  bold  outlines,  square 
masses,  and  severe  simplicity  of  detail.     To  the  polished 


THE   KUTAB-MINAR,    DEULI. 


masterpieces  of  a  later  day,  whose  glories  blossomed  in 
the  graceful  gi-aadeur  of  IBijapur,  Ahmadabad,  Jaunpm-, 
Fathipiir  Sikri,  and  bore  ripest  frait  in  the  buildings 
reared  at  Agra  and  Dehli  by  Shiihjahan,  this  old  Pathan 
architecture  bore  much  the  same  relation  that  the  towers 


THE    EAKLY    MOHAMMADAN    CONQUESTS.  53 

of  Exeter  Cathedral  bear  to  those  of  Canterbury,  or  the 
nave  of  Gloucester  to  the  chapel  of  Hemy  VII.  at  West- 
minster.'-' 

On  the  murder  of  Mohammad  Ghori  in  1205  by  some 
Panjabi  hUl-men,  who  thus  requited  him  for  his  cruel 
treatment  of  their  countrj-men,  Mohammad's  faithful  vice- 
roy, Kutab-ud-din,  was  invested  by  the  dead  king's  suc- 
cessor with  the  sovereignty  of  Hindustan.  The  crown 
which  he  assumed  at  Labor  in  1206  he  hved  to  wear  but 
four  years.  His  slave  and  son-in-law,  Altamsh,  whom  the 
nobles  of  the  new  kingdom  chose  for  their  nest  ruler,  had 
a  stormy  reign  of  twenty-five  years,  during  which  he 
repelled  an  invasion  from  Ghazni,  wrested  Sindh  from  a 
Mussulman  rival,  conquered  Malwa,  up  to  that  time  ruled 
by  a  prince  of  the  great  Yiki-am's  hue,  captured  the  strong 
fort  of  Gwahor,  and  re-established  his  sway  over  the  re- 
beUious  governors  of  Bengal.  Of  aU  the  old  Hindu  king- 
doms in  Northem  India  there  remained  scarcely  one  out- 
side the  Mohammadan  rule.  A  few  princes  were  allowed 
stUl  to  reign  on  condition  of  paying  tribute ;  but  fai-  the 
greater  part  of  the  country  was  governed  directly  by  rulers 
of  the  conquering  race. 

It  was  in  this  reign  that  the  Great  Khan  of  Tartai-y, 

*  The  monuments  of  early  Pathan  art  in  or  near  DelJi  include  the 
Kutab  Minor,  one  of  the  loftiest  and  most  striking  pillars  in  the  world. 
The  pointed  arch  first  takes  its  place  in  Pathan  buildings  of  the  thir- 
teenth century.  At  Bijapiir,  in  Sattara,  the  great  dome  of  Mohammad 
Adil  Shah's  mausoleum,  built  in  the  first  years  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, deserves  special  notice.  The  Jama  Masjid  of  Ahmadabad,  built 
by  Ahmad  Shah  in  the  fifteenth  century,  with  its  fifteen  domes  upheld 
by  2C0  pillars,  and  the  delicate  lattice  work  of  its  stone  screens,  may 
rank  among  the  most  beautiful  of  Eastern  mosques.  At  Ahmadabad 
and  Jaimpur  the  influence  of  Hindu  on  Mohammadan  art  is  clearly 
traceable.  The  great  mosque  at  Fathipur  Sikri,  twenty  miles  south- 
west of  Agra,  with  its  glorious  gateways,  vast  quadrangle,  and  majestic 
cloisters,  attests  from  the  hill  on  which  it  stands  the  piety  and  the 
splendid  taste  of  the  great  Akbar,  who  also  built  at  Dehli,  in  honom  of 
his  father  Hnmayun,  a  marble  monument  second  only  as  a  work  of  art 
to  its  younger  rival,  the  Taj  at  Agra. 


61  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Chingiz  Khan,  the  scourge  of  Asia,  swept  with  his  countless 
hordes  of  Mongol  horsemen,  like  a  lava-flood,  over  the 
■vast  regions  between  the  Caspian  and  the  Pacific,  over- 
throwing the  Turkish  monarchy  of  Kliarizm,  and  chasing 
the  son  of  its  Sultan,  who  had  also  reigned  in  Kabul, 
beyond  the  Indus.  Had  Altamsh  listened  to  the  prayer  of 
the  fugitive  prince,  India  also  might  have  been  involved  in 
the  general  ruin.  But  Jalal-ud-din  had  to  flee  elsewhither, 
and  the  terrible  Tartar  contented  himself  with  a  flying 
raid  through  Sindh.  Three  centuries  more  had  to  elapse 
before  a  conqueror  of  the  race  of  Chingiz  founded  a  new 
empire  in  Hindustan. 

On  the  death  of  Altamsh  in  1236  his  sceptre  passed 
into  the  hands  of  a  son,  who  was  speedily  set  aside  by  his 
manly-hearted  sister  Rizia,  whose  only  fault,  says  the  his- 
torian Ferishta,  lay  in  her  being  a  woman.  Her  vigorous 
but  troubled  reign  of  three  years  collapsed  in  a  rising 
among  her  nobles,  who  resented  the  favours  she  bestowed 
on  her  Abyssinian  slave.  Carried  oflf  a  prisoner  to  Ba- 
thinda,  she  won  the  heart  of  her  captor,  became  his  wife, 
and,  with  his  help,  took  the  field  against  her  rebellious 
brother  Bairam.  Fortune,  however,  again  deserted  her 
arms,  and  her  second  imprisonment  was  speedily  followed 
by  her  violent  death. 

In  the  six  foOowing  years  two  princes  of  the  house  of 
Altamsh  successively  exchanged  the  throne  of  Dehli  for 
imprisonment  and  death  at  the  hand  of  their  restless  or 
insulted  nobles.  Mahmud,  a  younger  son  of  Altamsh, 
was  then  called  to  the  throne,  which  he  held  for  twenty 
years,  dying  peacefully  in  his  bed  after  a  series  of  success- 
fill  struggles  with  the  Hindu  warriors  of  Rajputana,  Bun- 
dalkhand,  and  other  revolted  or  independent  states.  His 
nephew,  Sher  Khan,  even  succeeded  in  driving  the 
Moghal  invaders  out  of  Ghazni  and  reannexing  it  to  the 
throne  of  Dehli.  His  successor,  Balban,  a  Turkish  slave 
whose  merits  had  won  him  the  hand  of  a  daughter  of 


THE    EARLY    MOHAMMADAN    CONQUESTS.  55 

Altamsli  and  raised  him  to  the  post  of  Wazir,  or  prime 
minister,  under  Mahmiid,  stepped  without  difficulty,  but 
not  without  bloodshed,  into  the  latter's  place.  Having  in 
true  Turkish  fashion  got  rid  of  his  foremost  rivals,  he 
ruled  the  country  for  twenty  years  with  a  strong  but  by 
no  means  heavy  hand,  except  when  he  had  to  put  down  a 
revolt  in  Bengal  or  to  enforce  his  edicts  against  wine  and 
open  profligacy.  His  death,  at  a  ripe  old  age,  was 
hastened  by  gi-ief  for  the  loss  of  his  favourite  son  Moham- 
mad, who  fell  in  the  flush  of  victory  over  his  Moghal 
foes.  His  splendid  court,  filled  with  poets,  artists,  philo- 
sophers from  many  lands,  and  refugee  princes  from  the 
realms  overrun  by  Chingiz  and  his  successors,  furnished  a 
congenial  theme  for  the  pens  of  fervid  historians.  It  is 
worthy  of  remark,  however,  that  the  prince  who  thus 
opened  his  doors  to  high-bom  or  accomphshed  strangers, 
had  little  mercy  to  spare  for  the  subject  Hindus.  Not  one 
of  that  race,  we  are  told,  was  allowed  by  him  to  rise  in 
the  service  of  the  State. 


56 


CHAPTER  n. 

THE    KHILJI    DYNASTY    OF    DEHLI,    A.D.    1288 1321. 

Two  years  after  Balban's  death,  Jalal-ud-dm  Firoz,  a  chief 
of  the  Khilji  tribe  that  dwelt  in  the  Afghan  mountains, 
founded  a  new  dynasty  in  the  hlood  of  Balban's  worthless 
grandson,  Kai-kobad.     In  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign  a 
Mussulman  army,  led  by  his  nephew  Ala-ud-din,  began 
that  series  of  invasions  which  was  to  end  in  the  conquest 
of  Southern  India.      Laden  with  the  untold  plunder  of 
Deogarh,  the  modem  Daulatabad,  a  famous  hill-fort  be- 
longing to  the  Yadava  kings  of  Maharashtra,  the  victorious 
nephew  returned  home  to  plot,  to  compass  in  the  most 
treacherous  manner,  the  death  of  his  confiding  old  uncle 
in  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign.     This  murder  having 
been  presently  followed  up  by  that  of  the  king's  two  sons, 
Ala-ud-din   mounted   the   vacant   throne.      His   reign  of 
twenty  years  was  opened  by  the  reconquest  of  Gujarat  and 
the  capture  of  its  Rajput  queen,  who  lived  to  adorn  the 
conqueror's  haram.     Next  year  his  own  strength  and  the 
courage   of  his  troops   were  yet   more  severely  tried   in 
repelling  the  Loroads  of  a  vast  body  of  Moghal  horsemen, 
who  swept  Northern  India  up  to  the  very  gates  of  his 
capital.      A   great  battle   in   the  plains  near    the    Satlaj 
issued  in  the  rout   of  the  invaders,   but  the  victory  was 
dearly  won  by  the  death  of  the  Pathan  monarch's  ablest 
general.     A  second  inroad  took  place  in  1303,  while  half 
of  Ala-ud-din's  army  was  engaged  in  a  fresh  invasion  of 
Southern  India,  and  he  himself  was  about  to  lead  thither 
another  army  flushed  with  the  recent  plunder  of  Chitor  in 


THE    KHIIJI    DYNASTY    OF    DEHLI.  57 

Eajpntana.*  The  sudden  retreat  of  the  Moghals  from 
the  land  they  had  wasted  to  their  heart's  content,  was 
followed  by  their  reappearance  in  1305  and  1306.  Once 
more  the  choicest  warriors  of  Islam  advanced,  says  their 
historian,!  "Uke  clouds  and  raiu"  against  the  infidel 
Tartars,  and  falling  on  them  "  like  a  raging  storm"  drove 
them  with  tremendous  slaughter  across  the  Indus. 
"  Countless  infidels  were  dispatched  to  heU,"  and  many 
thousands  were  taken  prisoners.  With  a  cruelty  not  alto- 
gether unprovoked,  the  merciless  Sultan  ordered  that  his 
male  captives  should  all  be  slain  and  beaten  up  into 
mortar  for  the  Fort  at  Dehli.  A  bastion  or  pillar  was 
likewise  formed  out  of  their  heads. 

Free  from  further  alarms  on  his  Western  border,  the 
energetic  Sultan  sent  his  general,  Kafur,  a  promoted  slave, 
to  enforce  payment  of  the  tribute  due  from  the  Rajah  of 
Deogarh.  Yielding  to  necessity,  the  Rajah  sued  for  easy 
and  obtained  hberal  terms.  Three  years  afterwards  the 
same  general  subdued  the  kingdom  of  Warangiil,  to  the 
south  of  the  Godavari,  not  very  far  fi-om  the  modem 
Haidarabad.  In  besieging  the  waUed  town  of  Warangul 
the  Mussulmans  pUed  their  "Western  catapults"  with 
such  efifect  that  the  earthen  walls  were  "pounded  into 
dust "  by  the  incessant  shower  of  heavy  stones.  When 
the  besiegers  had  stormed  the  outer  works  of  the  city,:j: 
its  defenders  lost  heart  and  sued  for  terms.  Little  was 
gi-anted  them  except  their  lives.     Under  fierce  threats  of 

*  Dming  these  centuries  of  trouble  the  Hindu  princes,  if  they  failed 
to  avert  disaster,  knew  at  least  how  to  die.  Hopeless  of  resistance,  the 
Queen  of  Chitor  with  the  noblest  of  her  ladies  perished  in  the  flames 
of  their  own  kindling,  while  the  Rajah  and  his  faithful  followers  were 
finding  the  death  they  sought  on  the  weapons  of  the  foe.  A  similar 
issue  had  marked  the  siege  of  Rhantambhor  in  1299. 

t  Mir  Khusrii,  author  of  the  Tarikh-i-Alai,  which  narrates  the 
history  of  Ala-ud-din  down  to  A.D.  1310.  See  Sir  H.  Elliot's  "History 
of  India  as  told  by  its  own  Historians,"  vol.  iii. 

J  According  to  .-mother  historian,  Bami,  the  besiegers  took  the  out- 
works by  escalade. 


58  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

a  general  massacre,  the  unfortunate  Rajah  had  to  make  all 
his  treasures  over  to  the  conqueror,  who  returned  to  Dehli 
laden  with  the  gathered  wealth  of  a  kingdom  which  for 
centuries  had  thriven  peacefully  under  its  Hindu  lords. 
A  hundred  elephants,  seven  thousand  horses,  and  treasure 
enough  to  load  a  thousand  camels,  were  the  visible  tokens 
of  Kafir's  success.  His  new  conquest  remained  imder 
the  rule  of  its  Rajah,  Laddar  Deo,  on  condition  of  his 
paying  a  yearly  tribute  to  the  Sultan.* 

The  following  year  saw  Maabar,  the  modem  Carnatic, 
overrun  by  the  same  commander,  who  left  his  footmarks 
everywhere  in  plundered  cities,  ruined  temples,  and  idols 
broken  into  pieces  or  carried  off  as  part  of  the  prize.  On 
his  march  south-eastward  across  the  highlands  of  Maisor, 
he  sacked  the  city  of  Dwar-Samudra,  and  defaced  the 
beautiful  temple  which  a  king  of  the  Belial  line  had  just 
reared  in  honour  of  Siva.t  After  bearing  his  standard  to 
Madura,  if  not  to  Cape  Comorin,  and  building  a  mosque 
at  some  place  on  the  sea-coast  opposite  Ceylon,  Kafiir 
returned  to  Dehh  in  1311  with  a  booty  the  like  of  which 
his  countrymen  there  had  never  before  seen.  According 
to  the  native  chroniclers,  it  included  sis  hundred  and 
twelve  elephants,  ninety-sis  thousand  mans  of  gold,| 
several  boses  of  pearls  and  jewels,  and  twenty  thousand 
horses.  To  each  of  his  higher  officers  the  Sultan  dis- 
tributed the  gold  in  shares,  ranging  from  half  a  man  to 
four  mans. 

Once  more,  in  1312,  Kafiir  invaded  the  Dakhan,  to 
punish  the  refractory  Prince  of  Deogarh,  receive  tribute 
from  Warangiil,  and  send  home  fi-esh  spoils  from  con- 
quered   countries.      Meanwhile    his    master,    Ala-ud-din, 

*  Kafiir's  army  appears  to  have  been  reinforced  by  large  numbers  of 
Mar^tha  horse  and  foot  furnished  by  the  Kajah  of  Deojrarh. 

t  Supposed  to  be  the  great  temple  of  Halibed  in  Maisor,  a  marvel 
of  florid  decoration, 

X  A  man  or  maund  equals  about  80  lbs.  weight  EngHsh. 


THE    KHILJI    DYNASTY    OF    DEHLI.  69 

wreaked  a  fearful  vengeance  on  the  "new  Mussulmans," 
or  converted  Moghals,  who  had  been  taken  into  his  ser- 
vice or  allowed  to  settle  on  his  lands.  Suddenly  reduced 
by  his  orders  to  poverty  and  forced  idleness,  some  of 
them  plotted  to  seize,  if  not  to  slay,  the  ruler  who  was 
accused  of  grinding  down  his  subjects  with  fines  and 
heavy  burdens,  and  enforcing  with  cruel  penalties  the 
prohibitions  of  the  Koran  against  wine  and  other  strong 
drinks.  In  meeting  this  new  danger,  Ala-ud-din  gave  full 
swing  to  his  own  bloodthirsty  nature  ;  twenty  thousand 
Moghals,  most  of  whom  knew  nothing  of  the  plot,  being 
by  his  orders  slaughtered  in  one  day. 

Throughout  his  reign,  Ala-ud-din  seems  to  have  be- 
trayed in  turn  the  most  opposite  workings  of  a  strong  but 
ill-balanced  nature.  A  cruel  tyrant,  he  yet  gave  heed  at 
times  to  the  counsels  of  his  more  outspoken  advisers,  and 
made  some  attempts  to  administer  a  rude  sort  of  justice 
among  his  people.  From  a  life  of  the  grossest  debauchery 
he  could  pass  for  some  years  into  one  of  outwai-d  temper- 
ance and  self-denial.  Illiterate  himself,  he  encouraged 
the  presence  of  learned  men  at  his  court,  and  even  deigned 
for  their  sake  to  master  the  rudiments  of  the  Persian  lan- 
guage.* Utterly  ruthless  towards  friends  or  foes  who 
might  have  stii-red  up  his  bile  against  them,  he  would 
sometimes  listen  with  good  humour,  or  at  least  with 
patience,  to  advice  offered  him  under  the  faith  of  his 
kingly  word.  If  he  plotted  the  death  of  one  of  his  bravest 
officers,  he  never  tired  of  heaping  favours  on  another  who, 
all  the  whUe,  was  planning  how  to  wrest  the  sceptre  from 
his  heirs.  Fines,  confiscations,  and  plunder  went  far  to 
fill  his  treasury ;  but  he  checked  the  hcense  of  his  nobles, 
tried  to  put  down  bribery  and  extortion  among  his  revenue 
collectors,  and   punished  with  summary   sternness  every 


*  Bami,   however,  says  that  he  "never  associated  with  men   of 
learning." 


GO  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

shopkeeper  who  was  caught  dealing  in  false  weights  or 
measures  against  the  poor.* 

In  order  to  keep  down  the  turbulence  of  his  nobles,  the 
exactions  of  his  public  servants,  and  to  enforce  obedience 
to  his  many  stern  decrees,  Ala-ud-din  maintained  an  army 
of  spies  and  informers,  who  reported  regularly  whatever 
they  might  see  or  hear,  even  in  the  most  private  places. 
So  great  was  the  dread  of  them  that  many  a  noble  dared 
hardly  speak  aloud  in  his  own  palace.  A  special  edict, 
moreover,  forbade  the  nobles  and  great  men  from  giving 
feasts,  holding  meetings,  marrying  or  giving  in  marriage 
without  the  Sultan's  leave,  or  admitting  strange  guests 
into  their  houses.  No  wonder  that  feasting  and  hos- 
pitality fell  into  disuse,  that  the  sarais,  or  public  resting- 
places,  were  cleared  of  plotters,  and  that  treason  for  a 
time  became  too  perilous  a  game  even  for  the  boldest  to 
play  at,  when  his  trustiest-seeming  comrade  might  prove 
to  be  his  direst  foe. 

Among  other  classes  rebellion  was  to  be  disarmed  by 
other  means,  such  as  heavy  imposts,  arbitrary  fines,  and 
sweeping  resumptions  of  freehold  estates.  To  the  mass 
of  the  Sultan's  subjects  money  became  a  thing  unknown, 
and  the  people,  says  Barni,  "were  all  so  absorbed  in 
obtaining  the  means  of  living,  that  the  name  of  rebellion 
was  never  mentioned."  For  the  millions  of  Hindus  who 
had  passed  under  the  Mohammadan  yoke  this  was  indeed 
a  time  of  bitter  suffering.  Like  the  Jews  in  Europe  at 
that  very  date,  they  were  fleeced  and  harried  at  every 
turn.  From  the  jidya,  or  poll-tax,  to  the  rack-rent  levied 
on  the  land  in  the  shape  of  half  the  gross  produce,  no 
effort  was  spared  to  reduce  them  to  a  common  poverty. 

*  According  to  Barni,  boys  Tvere  frequently  sent  into  the  bazar  to 
test  the  honesty  of  the  shopkeepers.  If  one  of  these  gave  short 
weight,  the  inspector  went  to  his  shop,  "took  from  it  what  was  de- 
ficient, and  afterwards  cut  from  his  haunches  an  equal  weight  of  flesh, 
which  was  tliromi  down  before  his  eyes." — Sir  H.  Elliot's  "  History  of 
Iiidia,"  vol.  iii.  p.  190, 


THE    KHILJI    DYNASTY    OF    DEHLI.  61 

The  poorest  Hindu  was  taxed  for  the  goat  that  gave  him 
milk ;  his  neighbour  for  the  bullock  that  ploughed  his  bit 
of  land.  To  ride  their  own  horses  and  wear  fiue  clothing 
were  luxuries  reserved  for  very  few  of  the  subject  race. 
Threats  and  blows  enforced  the  tax-gatherer's  merciless 
demands.  No  Hindu,  says  the  historian,*  "  could  hold 
up  his  head,  and  in  theu-  bouses  no  sign  of  gold  or  silver 
or  of  any  superfluity  was  to  be  seen."  So  hard  became 
the  struggle  to  live  that  the  wives  of  Hindu  landowners 
were  often  fain  to  serve  for  hire  in  the  houses  of  the 
Mussulmans. 

Nor  did  their  troubles  end  here.  It  was  the  Sultan's 
ambition  to  keep  up  a  large  army  on  a  low  rate  of  pay — 
an  achievement  possible  only  if  the  price  of  provisions 
could  be  kept  down.  "  The  second  Alexander,"  as  he 
delighted  in  calling  himself,  proceeded  to  fix  the  market- 
prices  of  various  gi'ains.  A  good  deal  of  the  "  tribute  " 
or  land-revenue  was  by  his  orders  levied  in  kind.  With 
the  grain  thus  regularly  accruing  he  filled  his  granaries. 
The  grain-dealers  were  forced  to  sell  again  at  a  low 
uniform  rate  the  corn  which  the  raiyats,  or  peasants, 
had  been  forced  to  sell  them  after  satisfying  the  wants 
of  the  royal  treasury.  In  times  of  drought  and  dearth 
the  royal  gi-anaries  threw  open  their  stores  at  the  market- 
rates.  Eegrating  was  punished  by  heavy  fines  and  for- 
feiture of  the  stock  held  back  from  sale.  Any  attempt  to 
raise  the  market-prices  was  further  checked  by  the  punish- 
ment of  the  market -overseer  himself.  Horses,  cattle, 
slaves,  fruit,  vegetables,  grocery,  shoes,  needles,  every- 
thing, in  short,  exposed  for  sale  in  the  bazars  or  market- 
places had  its  value  strictly  regulated  and  kept  down  by 
royal  command.  Nothing  might  be  exported,  while  im- 
portation was  freely  encouraged.  Hours  were  fixed  for 
opening  and  closing  shops.  The  monarch's  will,  in  short, 
became  law,  overriding  even  the  precepts  of  the  Koran 
*  Barni  "  Tirikh-i-Firoz  Shahi." 


62  nisTonv  or  india. 

whenever  these  might  clash  with  his  own  views  of  right 
and  expediency.  If  his  zeal  for  regulating  everything  led 
often  to  absurd  injustice,  or  provoked  repeated  evasions  of 
intolerable  edicts,  he  appears  at  least  to  have  succeeded 
in  maintaining  a  cheap  army,  in  keeping  a  tight  hand  on 
his  unruly  nobles,  and  in  making  life  a  sore  burden  to  the 
mass  of  his  Hindu  subjects. 

For  some  years  of  his  reign  Ala-ud-din  governed  vigor- 
ously and  T\-ith  fair  success.  Peace  and  order  flourished 
everywhere  ;  the  nobles  were  quiet,  the  people  outwardly 
loyal ;  life  and  property  were  pretty  safe  on  the  highways. 
Splendid  buildings  adorned  his  capital,  and  noble  tanks 
stored  up  their  water  for  the  use  of  the  dwellers  in  large 
tovfns.  At  length,  however,  the  worse  traits  of  his  cha- 
racter and  conduct  began  to  bear  answering  fruit.  The 
arrogance  which  had  formerly  shown  itself  in  schemes  for 
setting  up  a  new  religion,  now  tempted  him  to  exchange 
his  able  ministers  for  worthless  eunuchs  and  slaves  who 
only  pandered  to  his  love  of  pleasure.  A  dropsy,  brought 
on  or  heightened  by  self-indulgence,  increased  the  violence 
of  his  temper.  Mistrustful  of  most  men,  he  yielded  him- 
self blindly  into  the  hands  of  his  cunning  favourite — his 
partner  in  the  foulest  profligacy — Kafur.  Under  this 
man's  baneful  influence  he  ordered  the  death  of  his 
brother-in-law  and  the  imprisonment  of  his  two  elder  sons. 
His  nobles  at  length  began  to  plot  against  him.  Gujarat 
broke  into  fierce  rebellion.  Chitor  was  wrested  from  Mos- 
lem rule  by  the  famous  Rajput  chief  Hamir,  and  the  son- 
in-law  of  Ram  Deo  drove  the  Mohammadans  out  of  Ma- 
harashtra. On  heai-ing  of  these  manifold  disasters,  the 
death-stricken  monarch  is  said  to  have  bitten  his  own  flesh 
with  rage.  He  died  soon  afterwards  in  the  last  days  of 
the  year  1316  ;  and  Kafur,  rightly  or  wrongly,  was  widely 
credited  with  a  direct  share  in  his  death. 

That  he  meant  to  profit  by  it  was  at  once  made  clear 
enough  by  his  seizure  of  the  government,  under  a  show  of 


THE    KHILJl    DYNASTY    OF    DEHLI.  03 

acting  as  guardian  to  the  youngest  son  and  pretended  heir 
of  the  late  king.  The  eyes  of  the  two  eldest  sons  were 
put  out  by  his  orders,  and  nothing  but  his  own  death  at 
the  hands  of  some  officers  of  the  palace-gnard  saved  the 
family  of  his  late  master  from  the  doom  which  so  often 
follows  a  change  of  dynasties,  or  even  of  kindi-ed  ralers,  in 
the  East. 

The  third  son  of  the  late  king,  Mobarak,  had  no  sooner 
regained  his  own  freedom,  and  mounted  the  throne  under 
the  title  of  Kutab-ud-din,  than  he  too  proceeded  to  assure 
his  hold  of  it  by  blinding  his  youngest  brother  and  slaying 
the  officers  to  whom  he  owed  his  life  and  sceptre.  His 
short  reign  of  four  years  opened  well  with  the  release  of 
many  thousand  pohtical  prisoners,  the  restoration  of  much 
confiscated  land,  and  the  annulling  of  nearly  all  the  harsh 
laws  devised  by  his  father.  The  Hindus  breathed  freely 
under  a  king  who  refused  to  tax  them  to  the  starving-point, 
and  the  Mussulmans  once  more  took  their  pleasure  without 
fear  of  spies  and  cruel  tortures.  While  an  able  general 
suppressed  the  revolt  in  Gujarat,  the  king  himself  marched 
into  the  Dakhan,  retook  the  stronghold  of  Deogarh,  and 
hunted  the  rebel  leader,  Hai-pal,  out  of  his  last  hiding- 
place  to  a  horrible  death  :  he  was  flayed  alive  by  order  of 
the  Sultan. 

Leaving  his  favourite  Khusru,  a  converted  Hindu,  to 
overrun  the  Carnatic,  Kutab-ud-din  returned  to  Dehh. 
There,  amidst  his  wine-cups,  his  women,  and  his  flatterers, 
he  gave  small  heed  to  passing  affairs,  except  when  a  plot 
discovered  or  a  rebellion  suppressed  might  rouse  him  into 
a  burst  of  vindictive  savagery.  At  length  he  too  fell  an 
nnpitied  victim  to  the  treachery  of  his  trusted  follower 
lihnsrii,  who  clinched  his  crime  by  slaughtering  all  those 
members  of  the  royal  family  whom  his  master  had  spared. 
Only  for  a  few  months,  however,  did  the  renegade  Hindu 
enjoy  his  blood-bought  crovra.  Ghazi  Khan  Toghlak, 
Governor   of  the   Panjab,   led   his   veterans   against  the 


01  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

usurper.  The  victory  of  Indrapat,  crowned  bj-  the  seizure 
and  beheading  of  Khusru,  opened  Dehli  to  the  conqueror, 
who  was  hailed  by  his  Mussulman  countrymen  as  their 
deliverer  from  the  yoke  of  "  Hindus  and  Parwaris."* 

*  These  Parwaris  were  a  body  of  retainers  from  Gujarat. 


65 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    TOGHLAK,    SAIYID,    AND    LODI    DYNASTIES,    A.D.    1321 

1526. 

Not  one  of  the  house  of  Khilji  being  found  alive,  Toghlak 
mounted  the  throne  of  Dehli  with  the  title  of  Ghiyas-ud- 
din.  Under  the  mild  rule  of  this  son  of  a  Turkish  slave 
by  a  Hindu  mother  the  country  prospered,  the  Moham- 
madans  breathed  freely,  and  even  the  Hindus  had  little 
cause  to  regret  the  change.  After  setting  his  finances  in 
order  and  lowering  the  land-rents  to  a  pitch  so  moderate 
that  fresh  fields  might  yearly  be  brought  under  the  plough, 
the  new  king  proceeded  to  strengthen  his  frontiers  against 
the  Moghals.  In  1322  his  son  Juna  IQian  was  deputed 
to  invade  Telingana  and  bring  the  refractory  ruler  of  Wa- 
rangiil  to  terms.  Repulsed  with  heavy  losses  on  the  first 
attack,  he  succeeded  the  next  year  in  capturing  the  city 
and  bearing  its  Rajah  prisoner  to  Dehli.  The  name  of  the 
city  was  changed  to  Sultanpiir,  and  Mussulman  oflicers 
were  left  in  charge  of  the  conquered  province.  The  king's 
arms  were  equally  successful  against  the  Moghal  invader 
on  the  north-west. 

Next  year  the  king  himself  marched  into  Laknauti,  or 
Bengal,  where  the  son  of  his  old  master,  Balban,  still  held 
an  almost  independent  sway.*  After  bestowing  on  Karra 
Ivhan  a  royal  umbrella  in  token  of  kingly  rank,  and  reduc- 
ing to  obedience  the  revolted  provinces  of  Dakha  and 
Jaunpur,  he  returned  homewards,  only  to  be  crushed  to 

*  See  page  55. 


66  HISTOr.Y    OF    INDIA. 

death,  by  design  or  accident,  in  the  pavihon  which  his  son 
had  built  for  his  reception  at  Toghlakabad. 

Juna  Ivhan,  who  succeeded  him  in  1325  under  the  title 
of  Mohammad  Toghlak,  appears  to  have  been  one  of  the 
most  gifted,  wayward,  wrong-headed,  and  merciless  princes 
of  his  age.  Deeply  read  in  Persian  and  Ai-abic  lore, 
equally  at  home  in  Greek  philosophy  and  the  physical 
sciences,  a  good  mathematician,  a  renowned  orator  and 
letter-wi'iter,  endowed  with  a  wonderful  memory,  of  tem- 
perate habits,  dauntless  courage,  invincible  energy,  in  word 
and  deed  a  pious  Mussulman,*  he  bade  fair  to  outtop  the 
highest  achievements  of  any  former  reign.  But  the  curse 
of  absolute  power,  working  on  a  heated  brain,  a  proud 
heart,  and  a  fierce,  unbridled  temper,  turned  all  that  teem- 
ing promise  to  naught ;  and  the  wonder  of  his  age  Hved  to 
become  its  direst  scourge. 

His  first  measure,  the  payment  of  a  heavy  bribe  to  get 
rid  of  the  Moghals  who  had  invaded  the  Panjab,  was 
rewarded  with  a  success  it  hardly  deserved.  The  same 
good  fortune,  with  better  reason,  followed  his  standard 
into  Southern  India,  nearly  all  of  which  became  tho- 
roughly subjected  to  his  rule.  From  Gujarat  to  Chitta- 
gong,  from  Labor  to  Madm-a,  stretched  an  empire  wider 
than  that  of  Aurangzib.  But  Mohammad  hungered  after 
new  conquests.  Three  hundred  and  seventy  thousand 
horsemen,  according  to  Barni,  were  held  for  a  whole  year 
in  readiness  to  enter  Khorasiin.  The  cost  of  then-  main- 
tenance, however,  emptied  his  treasury,  and  the  troops, 
collected  for  the  conquest  of  Persia,  repaid  themselves  on 
their  way  home  with  the  plunder  of  their  own  people. 

A  few  years  later,  in  1337,  the  restless  Sultan  sought 
to    replenish  a  di'ained   exchequer  by  thi'owing  another 

*  "  No  learned  or  scientific  man,  or  scribe,  or  poet,  or  wit,  or  phy- 
sician, could  have  presumed,"  says  Barni,  "  to  argue  with  him  about 
his  own  special  pursuit,  nor  would  he  have  been  able  to  maintain  his 
position  against  the  throttling  arguments  of  the  Sultan." 


THE    TOGHLAK,    SAIYID,    AND    LODI    DYNASTIES.  67 

large  army  somewhere  across  the  Himalayas  into  Chinese 
Turkistan.*  Checked  in  their  advance  by  the  courage  or 
the  numbers  of  the  Chinese  ;  wasted  by  hardships,  dis- 
ease, and  the  attacks  of  the  hill-tribes  in  their  rear,  very 
few  of  the  hundred  thousand  who  set  forth  on  that  fatal 
errand  survived  the  perils  of  a  yet  more  ruinous  retreat 
through  fever-breathing  forests  and  flooded  plains. 

Meanwhile  Mohammad  seems  to  have  tried  all  manner 
of  devices  for  recruiting  his  diminished  revenues.  New 
cesses  on  the  land  reduced  the  bulk  of  the  rahjats,  or 
peasants,  to  utter  beggary,  thousands  of  them  lea\'ing 
their  untilled  fields  to  roam  the  jungles  in  quest  of  food, 
or  to  lurk  about  the  highways  in  hopes  of  plunder. 
Drought  and  high  prices,  the  fruit  in  great  measure  of 
these  exactions,  brought  on  a  famine  which  raged  in  the 
Ganges  valley  for  several  years,  slaying  "  thousands  upon 
thousands  "  of  starving  wretches,  and  breaking  up  many  a 
household  whose  forefathers  had  dwelt  for  centuries  in  the 
same  village.  Large  tracts  of  fruitful  country  were  re- 
duced to  desert.  In  trying  to  mend  matters  the  Sultan 
only  made  them  worse.  His  scheme  for  cii'culating  copper 
tokens  of  an  artificial  value  in  the  place  of  gold  and  silver 
succeeded  only  in  deranging  the  course  of  trade  and 
enlarging  the  circle  of  popular  suflTering,  without  restoring 
the  shattered  finnnces  of  the  state. 

In  this  state  of  things,  discontent,  disorder,  and  rebel- 
lion grew  more  and  more  rife.  Hardly  had  Miiltan  been 
reduced  to  obedience,  when  the  king's  nephew  rose  against 
him  in  the  Dakhan,  and  a  Mussulman  noble  drove  the 
king's  ofiicers  out  of  Bengal.  With  his  usual  energy 
Mohammad  turned  upon  his  assailants.  His  nephew  was 
defeated,  taken,  and  flayed  aHve.     A  popular  outbreak  n 

*  Barai  talks  of  a  inarch  towards  "  the  mountain  of  Karajal,"  which 
"  Ues  between  the  territories  of  Hind  and  those  of  China.''  The  cap- 
ture of  this  mountain  was  somehow  to  aid  Mohammad  in  his  still- 
cherished  designs  on  Khorasan, 

f2 


03  HISTORY    OF    IXDUt 

the  Do!vli,  or  country  between  the  Jamna  and  the  Ganges, 
■was  suppressed  with  hideous  slaughter  of  innocent  thou- 
sands. The  gi'eat  city  of  Kanauj  was  given  over  to  a 
general  massacre.  "While  one  of  his  officers  was  putting 
down  a  revolt  in  Lahor,  the  king  himself  marched  from 
Deogarh  to  deal  with  a  like  disturbance  in  the  Carnatic. 
Cholera,  however,  made  such  inroads  into  his  camp  at 
Warangul,  that  he  withdrew  his  troops  to  Deogarh,  him- 
self half  dead  from  the  same  disease  ;  and  presently  Wa- 
rangul also  threw  off  the  imperial  yoke.  It  is  mentioned 
as  a  master-flight  of  whimsical  self-conceit,  that  a  tooth 
he  had  lost  on  his  way  homewards  was  buried  with  great 
pomp  under  a  stately  mausoleum  at  Bhir. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Mohammad's  liking  for 
Deogarh  issued  in  a  rash  and  disastrous  attempt  to  sub- 
stitute that  place  for  Dehli  as  the  seat  of  his  rule.  He 
changed  its  name  to  Daulatabad.  When  his  new  capital 
had  been  adorned  with  new  buildings  and  strengthened 
with  new  lines  of  defence,  he  commanded  the  people  of 
Dehli  to  leave  the  city,  whose  gi-owing  splendour  had  kept 
pace  with  the  growth  of  Mohammadan  conquests,  and  to 
march  with  all  their  household  goods  to  the  homes  he  had 
chosen  for  them  beyond  the  Satpiira  hills.  The  road 
thither  had  been  planted  with  full-grown  trees ;  but  thou- 
sands perished  from  the  toils  of  that  long  jom-ney,  and  as 
many  more  filled  the  graveyards  of  Daulatabad.  Ere  long 
the  survivors  were  allowed  to  retm-n  home,  but  once  more, 
under  pain  of  death,  were  they  compelled  to  emigrate 
afresh.  The  new  capital,  however,  was  not  fated  to  pros- 
per on  the  nxins  of  the  old.  Dehli  was  again  repeopled, 
and  Mohammad's  last  years  were  chiefly  spent  in  the  city 
that  towers  along  the  Jamna. 

Those  years  were  troubled  with  fresh  storms,  and  fresh 
disasters  followed  each  other,  in  spite  of  the  Sultan's  high 
abilities  and  of  the  countenance  bestowed  upon  him  by  the 
nominal   head   of   Islam,   the   reigning  Khalif  of    Egypt. 


THE    TOGHLAK,    SAIYID,    AND    LODI    DYNASTIES.  09 

Famine  still  raged  in  the  Doab.  His  ■well-meant  efforts  to 
improve  the  revenue  by  bringing  waste  lands  under  tillage 
seem  to  have  ended  only  in  emiching  a  crew  of  official 
hai-pies  at  the  public  expense.  Terrible  punishments 
goaded  his  subjects  into  fresh  outbreaks.  The  unpro- 
voked slaughter  of  eighty  "foreign  Amirs,"  or  converted 
Moghal  settlers,  by  his  willing  tool,  the  governor  of  Malwa, 
roused  their  countrj-men  in  Gujarat  into  a  rebellion,  the 
scene  of  which  was  afterwards  shifted  to  Daulatabad. 
After  wasting  the  former  province  with  fire  and  sword, 
Mohammad  hastened  into  the  Dakhan  ;  but  while  he  was 
besieging  Daulatabad,  the  news  of  a  fresh  rising  recalled 
him  into  Gujarat.  Here  he  was  again  successful ;  but 
meanwhile  the  Dakhan  was  slipping  surely  out  of  his 
grasp.  With  the  help  of  the  governor  of  Malwa  the  in- 
surgents drove  the  king's  troops  across  the  Narbadha  ; 
and  their  new  leader,  Hasan  Gangu,  became  the  fii-st  king 
of  an  independent  Bahmani  line,  whose  sway  was  to 
flourish  for  the  next  hundred  and  eighty  years. 

Gujarat  reduced  to  order  and  desolation,  the  active 
monarch  turned  his  arms  against  Sindh,  whose  princes 
had  given  shelter  to  the  fugitives  from  the  neighbouring 
province.  In  spite  of  ill  health  he  was  pushing  on  towards 
Tatta,  on  the  Indus,  when  death,  hastened  by  a  hearty 
meal  of  fish,  brought  all  his  cares,  schemes,  and  follies  to  a 
sudden  close,  in  the  twenty-sixth  year  of  his  unquiet  reign. 
Seldom  has  a  prince  of  hke  capacity  laboured  with  a  will 
so  froward  for  his  own  undoing.  The  erewhile  master  of 
nearly  the  whole  Indian  peninsula  had  lived  to  see  one 
province  after  another  faU  away  from  his  sceptre.  It  was 
more  than  two  centuries  before  an  emperor  of  Dehli  again 
held  actual  sway  over  the  Mussulman  lords  of  Bengal. 
For  nearly  the  same  period  Bijayanagar,  cradled  among 
rugged  hills  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Tumbadra,  remained 
the  seat  of  a  powerful  Hindu  realm,  at  one  time  reaching 
southwards  to  Madiu'a.     The  Hindu  Eajahs  of  Telingana 


70  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

fixed  their  capital  for  about  eighty  years  at  Warangiil,  and 
when  that  stronghold  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  Bahmani 
prince,  they  continued  for  another  century  to  hold  the  rest 
of  their  dominions  on  the  Kistna  and  the  Godavari  by 
right  of  their  own  strong  arms.  Kulbarga,  in  the  valley 
of  the  Upper  Kistna,  became  the  chief  seat  of  the  Bah- 
mani* princes  already  named,  whose  sway  extended  east- 
ward from  the  sea  to  Berar,  and  from  the  Tiipti  southward 
to  the  Tumbadra.  Several  other  provinces,  such  as  Malwa 
and  Gujarat,  were  either  in  full  revolt  or  smarting  under 
heavy  punishment  for  past  outbreaks,  when  Mohammad 
Toghlak  breathed  his  last. 

His  nephew  and  successor,  Firoz  Shah,  made  a  vigorous 
but  vain  attempt  to  reconquer  Bengal.  By  the  treaties 
afterwards  concluded  with  that  province  and  the  Dakhan, 
he  accepted  the  issue  he  could  no  longer  avert.  +  A  sub- 
sequent expedition  into  Sindh  resulted  in  the  nominal  sub- 
mission of  the  Jam  of  Tatta,  a  Rajput  of  the  dynasty 
which  had  lately  succeeded  the  old  Sumera  line.  With 
these  exceptions  and  that  of  a  temporary  rising  in  Guja- 
rat, his  reign  for  many  years  was  peaceful  and  prosperous, 
and  marked  by  not  a  few  wholesome  enactments.  The 
savage  punishments  and  tortures  inflicted  by  former  rulers 
were  nearly  all  done  away.  I     A  great  manv  small  and 


*  Hasan  Gangu,  founder  of  the  dynasty,  is  said  by  Ferishta  to  have 
been  an  Afghan  husbandman,  settled  near  Dehli  on  the  estate  of  a 
Brahman  whose  favour  he  had  won  by  handing  over  to  him  some 
treasure  found  on  the  estate.  The  Brahman  seems  to  have  had  friends 
at  court,  to  whose  notice  he  recommended  his  tenant.  Taking  his 
patron's  name,  Hasan  rose  in  the  king's  service,  and  when  he  too 
became  a  king,  he  added  the  name  of  Bahmani  in  honour  of  the 
friendly  Brahman. 

t  The  rulers  of  those  provinces  seem  still  to  have  paid  tribute  to 
Dehli,  but  were  otherwise  independent  sovereigns. 

J  "  Amputation  of  hands  and  feet,  ears  and  noses ;  tearing  oat  the 
eyes,  pouring  molten  lead  into  the  throat,  crushing  the  bones  of  the 
hands  and  feet  with  mallets,  burning  the  body  with  fire,  driving  iron 
nuils  into  the  hands,  feet,  and  bosom,  cutting  the  sinews,  sawing  men 


THE    TOGHLAK,    SAIYID,    AND    LODI    DYNASTIES.  71 

vexatious  imposts  were  removed.  The  victims  of  his 
uncle's  cruelty  he  consoled  with  gifts  or  restored  to  their 
forfeit  honours.  Lands  wrested  from  their  former  owners 
were  given  back  to  them  or  their  heirs.  The  needy  and 
the  unemployed  he  supphed  with  work.  Learning  was 
encouraged,  vice  in  its  worse  and  more  open  forms  sternly 
repressed,  and  luxury  discountenanced  by  the  king's  own 
example. 

A  devout  Mussulman,  he  gave  alms  fi-eely  to  the  poor, 
built  many  mosques,  monasteries,  and  colleges,  repaired 
the  tombs  of  former  sultans  and  nobles,  and  founded 
hospitals  for  high  and  low.  With  a  grim  sort  of  justice 
he  refused  to  exempt  the  Brahmans,  "the  very  keys  of 
the  chamber  of  idolatry,"  from  the  hateful  Jidya,  or  poll- 
tax,  levied  on  all  other  Hindus.  At  the  same  time  he 
remitted  the  tax  on  every  Hindu  who  would  make  pro- 
fession of  Islam,  a  stroke  of  pohcy  which  gained  large 
numbers  of  converts  to  the  dominant  creed.*  Gifts  and 
honours  further  awaited  these  new  soldiers  of  Mahomet ; 
but  for  those  who  held  fast  to  the  creed  of  their  fore- 
fathers he  had  little  mercy  to  spare.  Their  temples  were 
destroyed,  their  holy  books,  vessels,  and  idols  publicly 
burnt,  their  leaders  not  seldom  put  to  death. f  If  the 
Christian  princes  of  that  age  were  equally  ruthless  towards 
the  heretic  and  the  heathen,  we  cannot  wonder  at  the  in- 
tolerance shown  by  a  believer  in  a  religion  which  proclaimed 
the  duty  of  converting  infidels  at  the  sword's  point. 

His  religious  training,  however,  bore  fairer  fruit  than 
this.     The  historians  of  his  day  dwell  with  pride  on  the 

asunder  ;  these,"  says  Firoz  Shah  himself,  "  and  many  similar  tortures 

■were  practised Through  God's  mercy  these  severities  and 

terrors  have  been  exchanged  for  tenderness,  kindness,  and  mercy." 

*  See  the  "  Tankh-i-Firoz  Shahi "  of  Shams-i-Siraj,  a  contemporary  of 
Firoz,  and  that  monarch's  own  brief  memoir  of  his  reign,  the  "  Futuhat-i- 
Firoz  Shahi" — both  in  vol.  iii.  of  Elliot's  "History  of  India." 

+  In  spate  of  his  own  milder  edicts,  Firoz  Shah  had  at  least  one  poor 
Brahman  burnt  at  the  stake,  according  to  the  historian  Shams-i-Siraj. 


72  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

many  public  works  begun  or  carried  thi-ough  during  the 
reign  of  Firoz  Toghkk.  He  is  said,  we  know  not  how 
accurateh',  to  have  built  two  hundred  forts  and  cities, 
forty  mosques,  thirty  coUeges,  a  hundi-eJ  hospitals,  a  hun- 
di'ed  and  twenty  khdiikus,  or  pubhc  inns  and  caravanserais, 
twenty  palaces,  five  tombs,  a  hundred  tanks  for  bath- 
ing, a  hundred  and  fifty  bridges,  and  ten  monumental 
pillars.  To  him  also  was  Upper  India  first  indebted  for 
water-works  like  those  with  which  Southern  India  had 
long  been  blest.  Besides  damming  fifty  rivers  and  exca- 
vating thirty  reservoirs,  he  carried  a  canal  from  Karnal,  on 
the  Upper  Jamna,  through  the  thirsty  plains  round  Hansi 
and  Hisar,  to  the  Kagar  river,  and  thence  onward  through 
once  fertUe  Bhatiana  to  the  Satlaj.* 

After  a  reign  of  thirty-six  years,  the  good  old  king 
resigned  his  throne  to  his  son  Nasir-ud-din.  But  a  year 
had  hardly  elapsed  before  the  new  king  was  declared  by 
his  rebeUious  nobles  unfit  to  reign ;  and  Firoz,  recalled 
from  his  hard-won  privacy,  was  glad  to  seek  it  again  after 
he  had  placed  the  sceptre  in  the  hands  of  his  grandson 
Ghyas-ud-din.  A  few  weeks  later  he  himself,  at  the  great 
age  of  ninety,  had  found  the  deeper  privacy  of  the  grave. 

For  the  next  ten  years  the  history  of  the  Toghlak 
dynasty  is  one  of  continual  disorder,  unrest,  and  strife. 
In  little  more  than  a  year  one  king  had  been  murdered  by 
a  rival  brother,  who  in  his  turn  had  given  place  to  his 
exiled  uncle,  Nasu'-ud-din.  For  months  more  the  strife 
between  uncle  and  nephew  raged  with  varying  fortune, 
before  the  twice-crowned  son  of  Fu-oz  Shah  di-ove  his 
nephew  for  the  last  time  out  of  Dehh.  His  death  in 
February,  1394,  transferred  the  sceptre  to  his  eldest  son 
Humayun,  who,  dying  a  few  weeks  later,  was  succeeded  by 
his  brother  Mahmiid. 

*  Of  this  great  irrigation-work  some  two  hundred  miles  have  since 
been  reopened  by  the  English  Government  in  India  with  excellent 
results. 


THE    TOGHLAK,    SAIYID,    AND.  LODI    DYNASTIES.  73 

This  prince's  nominal  reign  of  nineteen  years  began  in 
trouble  and  closed  in  deep  gloom.  He  was  a  mere  boy 
when  Mozaffar  Khan,  the  son  of  a  converted  Rajput,  set 
up  an  independent  kingdom  in  Gujarat.  His  example  was 
quickly  followed  by  the  neighbom-ing  governors  of  Malwa 
and  Kandesh,  whUe  his  own  Wazir  founded  another  king- 
dom at  Jaunpur  on  the  river  Gumti,  not  far  £i-om  Banaras. 
Dehli  itself  was  torn  by  incessant  broils  between  the  fol- 
lowers of  rival  claimants  to  the  throne. 

In  the  midst  of  these  disorders  a  remote  descendant  of 
Chingiz  Khan  swooped  down  from  Samarkhand  across  the 
Indus  into  the  fair  plains  of  Hindustan.  At  the  Satlaj 
this  new  invader,  kno\^-a  in  history  as  Timiir  or  Tamer- 
lane,* was  met  by  his  grandson,  fresh  from  the  conquest 
of  Miiltan.  Their  march  towards  Dehh  by  the  way  of 
Bhatnir,  Samana,  and  Panipat,  wjis  mai-ked  by  the  usual 
atrocities  of  then-  age  and  race.  AU  these,  however,  were 
sm-passed,  if  we  may  beUeve  Timiir's  own  words,  by  the 
massacre  of  a  hundi-ed  thousand  prisoners  in  cold  blood 
on  his  near  approach  to  DehU.t  Mahmud  went  forth  to 
fight  his  fearful  adversary,  but  his  troops  were  no  match 
for  superior  numbers,  prowess,  and  miUtaiy  skill.  The 
beaten  monarch  fled  to  Gujarat,  and  his  capital  fell  into 
the  hands  of  a  conqueror  whose  deeds  were  continually 
clashing  with  his  pledged  words.  His  promises  of  quarter 
to  the  people  of  Dehli  issued  in  a  tremendous  carnival  of 
blood  and  plunder,  which  lasted  for  five  days,  he  himself 
feasting  all  the  while  in  state  outside  the  city,  in  seeming 
helplessness  to  avert  or  stay  the  horrors  let  loose  by  his 
"  savage  Tui-ks  "  within.  His  own  account  throws  little 
light  upon  the  real  origin  of  a  disaster  which  he  com- 

*  A  corruption  of  Timiir  Lang,  that  is,  Timur  the  Lame.  Timur 
himself  appears  to  have  been  more  of  a  Turk  than  a  Mongol  by  birth. 

t  See  his  autobiography,  the  Malfuzati-Timuri,  in  vol.  iii.  of  Elhofs 
"History  of  India."  These  "infidels  and  idolaters"  were  slain  on 
grounds  of  alleged  military  expediency — a  convenient  excuse  for  the 
promptings  of  religious  zeal. 


74  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

placently  ascribes  to  the  will  of  God ;  the  tone  of  his  nar- 
rative betrays  smaU  regret ;  and  his  avowed  attempt  to 
seize  all  the  Hindu  refugees  Ln  the  city  provoked  the 
tumults  which  his  turbulent  soldiery  were  so  prompt  to 
quench  in  blood. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  however,  nearly  the  whole  of  Dehli 
was  given  up  to  plunder,  its  streets  were  piled  with  dead, 
and  when  the  new  Emperor  of  India,  as  Timiir  now  chose 
to  call  himself,  set  forth  on  his  homeward  march,  a  host  of 
captives  and  an  enormous  booty  of  the  richest  kind  fol- 
lowed in  his  train. 

Having  already,  by  his  own  account,  slain  some  "  lakhs"* 
of  infidels,  he  resumed  his  holy  war  at  Mirat,  whose  cap- 
ture was  attended  by  a  general  massacre.  After  raiding 
up  the  Ganges  to  Hardwar,  at  the  foot  of  the  Himalayas, 
and  skirting  that  mighty  range  as  far  as  Jammu,  north  of 
Labor,  he  at  length  recrossed  the  Indus  to  renew  elsewhere 
the  horrors  which  had  dogged  his  steps  from  that  river  to 
the  Ganges.     India  at  any  rate  saw  him  no  more. 

The  exiled  King  of  Dehli  returned  to  his  capital,  but 
found  little  left  him  except  the  name  of  king  over  a  sorry 
remnant  of  the  empire  once  ruled  by  Mohammad  Toghlak. 
For  twelve  years  more  he  lived  as  a  titled  pensioner  of  one 
strong-handed  noble  after  another.  With  his  death  in 
1412  the  house  of  Toghlak  ceased  to  reign.  A  fight  for 
the  succession  ended  fifteen  months  later  in  the  triumph  of 
Khizr  Khan,  a  Saiyid  or  descendant  of  Mahomet,  whom 
Timiir  had  appointed  Governor  of  the  Panjab.  The 
founder  of  the  Saiyid  dynasty,  he  still  claimed  to  govern 
as  viceroy  of  the  Emperor  Timiir.  After  a  prosperous 
riiign  of  seven  years,  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son  Mo- 
barak,  whose  uneventful  reign  of  fourteen  years  was  cut 
short  by  the  assassin's  knife. 

In  the  days  of  his  son  Mohammad,  Dehli  was  saved  by 
Eelol  Lodi,  the  Afghan  Governor  of  Multan,  from  falling 

*  A  lakk  is  a  hundred  thousand. 


THE    TOC.HLAE,    SAIYID,    AND    LODI    DYNASTIES.  75 

into  the  hands  of  the  independent  King  of  Malwa.  Ere 
long,  however,  Belol  himself  was  laying  siege  to  Dehli, 
but  in  vain.  AVithdrawing  to  his  own  provinces,  be  had 
not  long  to  wait  before  Mohammad's  death  and  the  help- 
less condition  of  bis  son  Ala-ud-din,  whose  sway  extended 
only  a  few  miles  round  the  capital,  again  brought  him  with 
fairer  prospects  to  the  front.  Ala-ud-din  retired  on  a 
pension  to  Budaon,  and  in  1450  the  grandson  of  the  en- 
nobled Afghan  merchant  founded  a  dynasty  which  reigned 
at  DehU  for  about  seventy-six  years. 

For  half  that  period  the  throne  was  occupied  by  Belol 
himself,  who  is  said  to  have  been  "  for  those  days  a  vir- 
tuous and  mild  prince,  executing  justice  to  the  utmost  of 
his  knowledge."  He  treated  his  courtiers  like  friends, 
cared  little  for  display,  lived  abstemiously,  and  enjoyed  the 
company  of  learned  men.*  With  the  mingled  courage  and 
caution  of  his  race,  he  put  down  one  assailant  after  an- 
other, by  fair  means  or  foul,  until  nearly  all  the  countrv 
between  the  Satlaj  and  the  Ganges  down  to  Banaras  had 
been  re-annexed  to  the  kingdom  of  Dehli.  His  greatest 
achievement  was  the  reconquest  of  Jaunpur  after  a  war 
which,  with  varying  fortunes  and  few  pauses,  raged  for 
about  twenty-six  years. 

Like  so  many  Eastern  sovereigns,  his  son  Sikandar  had 
to  fight  for  his  throne,  first  with  the  champions  of  his 
infant  nephew,  afterwards  with  two  of  his  brothers.  Unlike 
most  conquerors  of  his  race,  however,  the  new  Sultan  treated 
his  fallen  rivals  with  forgiving  courtesy,  sometimes  even 
with  brotherly  atfection.  A  just  and  vigorous  ruler,  he  yet 
reserved  his  kindnesses  for  men  of  his  own  faith.  Towards 
the  Hindus  he  proved  a  merciless  bigot,  forbidding  their 
rites  of  bathing  and  pilgi-image,  destroying  their  temples, 
and  building  mosques  in  their  stead.  One  poor  Brahman,  a 
probable  disciple  of  the  reformer  Khabir,f  was  put  to  death 

*  See  Dow's  "  History  of  Hindostaa,"  vol.  ii, 
t  See  Book  I.  chap.  iv. 


76  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

for  having  dared  to  maintain  before  Mohammadan  doctors 
the  equal  claims  of  aU  creeds,  if  honestly  practised,  to 
acceptance  in  the  sight  of  God. 

After  a  reign  of  twenty-eight  years,  during  which  Bahar 
was  added  to  his  father's  dominions,  Sikandar  was  suc- 
ceeded by  his  son  Ibrahim,  whose  pride  and  tyranny  drove 
his  subjects  into  frequent  revolts,  quenched  by  him  in  seas 
of  blood.  At  length  one  of  his  tribesmen,  Daulat  Khan 
Lodi,  Governor  of  the  Panjab,  turned  for  aid  to  Kabul, 
where  Babar,  a  descendant  of  Timiir,*  after  a  strange 
career  of  perUs,  defeats,  and  victories,  had  finally  fixed  his 
throne  some  twenty  years  before.  He  was  only  fifteen 
when  he  set  forth,  in  1497,  fi'om  Firghana,  on  the  upper 
com-se  of  the  Jaxartes  (the  river  Syr),  to  conquer  Samar- 
khand.  A  few  months  later  he  left  that  city  to  fight  for 
the  recovery  of  his  native  kingdom,  which  had  risen  in 
revolt  against  him.  Again,  in  1199,  he  won  his  way  by 
stratagem  into  the  capital  of  Timiir,  which  had  meanwhile 
fallen  into  the  hands  of  a  powerful  Uzbek  chief.  Blockaded 
by  the  Uzbeks  in  Samarkhand,  he  left  that  city  a  second 
time  to  find  Firghana  also  wrested  from  his  gi-asp.  For 
the  next  few  years  Babar  was  the  sport  of  untoward  for- 
tune, successful  at  one  moment  only  to  be  caught  in 
sterner  straits  the  next.  Baffled  at  every  turn,  a  wanderer 
hunted  for  his  hfe,  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  his  worst 
enemies,  the  brave  young  chieftain  never  lost  heart.  Re- 
gaining his  freedom  he  found  shelter  for  a  time  in  Kundiiz, 
at  the  court  of  Khusrii  Shah.  Starting  thence  with  an 
army  chiefly  recruited  from  Elhusru's  troops,  he  marched 
on  Kabul  in  1501,  and  soon  possessed  himself  of  the 
country  which  his  uncle  had  lately  ruled. 

From  that  time  fortune,  if  stiU  uncertain,  smiled  upon 
him  in  the  main.  After  extending  his  dominions  around 
Kabul,  he  crossed  the  Osus  in  1511,  and  for  the  third 

*  He  was  sixth  in  descent  from  Timiir  and  a  remote  descendant  of 
Chingiz  Khan, 


THE    TOGHLAK,    SAITID,    AXD    LODI    DYNASTIES.  (  7 

time  conquered  Samarkhand.  Driven  thence  in  1514  by 
his  old  enemies  the  Uzbeks,  he  at  length  turned  his 
thoughts  towards  India.  His  first  invasion  of  the  Panjab 
took  place  in  1519.  Twice  again  in  the  next  five  j-ears  he 
crossed  the  Indus;  and  in  1524  he  made  his  way  into 
Sirhind,  at  the  invitation  of  the  aforesaid  Daulat  Khan. 
But  that  shifty  or  iU-nsed  Afghan  failed  to  convince  Babar 
of  his  trustworthiness,  and  the  latter  again  withdi'ew  to 
Kabul,  leaving  Ala-ud-din,  brother  to  the  Sultan  of  DehU,* 
in  charge  of  the  Panjab. 

The  new  governor,  after  fleeing  from  the  hostility,  was 
ere  long  enjoying  the  aid  of  Daulat  Khan  in  his  march 
upon  DehM.  His  defeat  by  his  brother  Ibrahim  before  the 
capital  at  length  roused  Babar,  flushed  with  victory  over 
the  Uzbek  invaders  of  Balkh,  to  one  more  decisive  efibrt 
for  the  empire  of  Hindustan.  In  the  spring  of  1526  some 
ten  thousand  lloghal  horsemen,  with  a  smaller  body  of 
foot  and  a  few  field-guns, t  emerged  from  the  hills  at 
Eupur,  and,  taking  up  fresh  forces  on  their  way,  at  length 
found  themselves  on  the  plain  of  Panipat,  face  to  face 
with  Ibrahim's  army,  reckoned  by  the  chroniclers,  more 
or  less  wildly,  at  a  hundred  thousand  strong.  On  a  battle- 
field since  famous  in  Indian  histoiT,  Babar  enti-enched 
his  small  army.  His  guns  and  infantry  ranged  in  well-knit 
line  behind  their  breastworks,  while  clouds  of  watchful 
horsemen  covered  their  flanks,  Babar,  with  his  son  Hu- 
mayun,  calmly  awaited  an  attack  fr-om  four  times  their  own 
numbers.  Impatient  of  delay,  the  hosts  of  Ibrahim  thun- 
dered down  upon  the  foe.  Their  strength,  however,  was 
spent  in  vain  upon  that  bristling  banier.  Baftled  and 
disordered,  they  were  suddenly  beset  on  their  flanks  and 
rear  by  Babar's  active  horsemen,  whose  arrows   seldom 

*  Some  authorities  call  him  uncle. 

t  Field-artillery  are  known  to  have  been  employed  in  India  as  far 
back  as  1365  a.d,,  when  the  spoils  taken  by  the  Bahmani  king  of  the 
Dakhan  from  the  Hindu  hosts  of  Bijayanagar  at  the  battle  of  Raichor 
included  300  gun-carriages. 


HISTORI    OF    INDIA. 


missed  their  mark.  Kepeated  charges,  one  of  them  led  by 
Ibrahim  himself,  resulted  only  in  heavier  slaughter,  in 
more  confused  retreat.  Meanwhile  Babar,  issuing  from 
his  entrenchments,  lei  his  unbroken  troops  steadily  for- 


■ward  into  the  heai-t  of  the  hostile  ranks.  Ibrahim  and  five 
thousand  of  his  best  soldiers  fell  in  one  spot.  Utterly  dis- 
heartened by  their  monarch's  fall,  the  Pathan  army,  says 
the  historian,  "recoiled  like  surges  from  a  rocky  shore, 
and  the  torrent  of  flight  rolled  towards  the  banks  of  the 


I 


THE    TOGHLAK,    SAIYID,    AND    LODl    DYNASTIES.  79 

Jamna,"*  whither  the  Moghals  kept  up  the  pursuit,  untU 
Babar,  tired  of  useless  bloodshed,  gave  the  word  to  halt. 
Of  the  routed  entmy  he  himself  reckoned  f  that  sixteen 
thousand  died  upon  the  field,  and  some  thousands  more 
must  have  fallen  in  their  subsequent  flight.  On  that  fatal 
evening  of  April,  1526,  the  house  of  Lodi  ceased  to  reign 
over  the  kingdom  it  had  ^-irtually  recalled  into  being. 

*  Dow's  "  Hindoptai^,**  vol.  ii, 

t  See  Babar's  own  llemoirs,  translated  by  Mr.  Eeskiue. 


80 


CHAPTEE  lY. 

THE    CONTEMPOEAEY    INDIAN    DYNASTIES. 

At  tlie  time  when  Babar  steps  upon  the  stage  of  ludiau 
history,  it  is  ■well  to  pause  for  a  moment  and  glance  round 
over  the  great  peninsula  which  his  descendants  were  to 
bring  for  a  season  under  thcLr  sway. 

To  begin  with  the  cool,  weU-watered  valley  of  Kashmir, 
nestled  in  the  heai't  of  the  north-western  Himalayas. 
That  country  had  been  ruled  by  a  long  succession  of 
Hindu,  Buddhist,  and  even  Tartar  princes,  when,  in  the 
early  part  of  the  fourteenth  century,  it  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Shah  Mir,  the  Mohammadan  vizier  of  its  late  rajah,  the 
last  of  an  ancient  Hindu  line.  The  new  king,  under  the 
name  of  Shams-ud-din,  governed  mildly  and  well  for  twenty- 
three  years  ;  but  one  of  his  successors,  about  the  close  of 
the  same  century,  proved  a  cruel  persecutor  of  the  pre- 
valent Hindu  faith.  The  long  reign  of  Sikandai''s  nephew, 
Shadi  Khan,  brought  better  times  to  his  Hindu  subjects. 
From  the  day  of  his  death  to  the  battle  of  Panipat  was  a 
period  mainly  of  civil  commotion  and  frequent  change  of 
rulers,  one  of  whom,  Mohammad,  great-grandson  of  the 
wise  and  good  Shadi  Khan,  was  four  times  deposed  during 
a  nominal  reign  of  about  fifty  years.  On  the  last  of  these 
occasions,  in  1525,  he  had  been  set  aside  in  favour  of  his 
grandson  by  one  of  Babar's  generals  ;  but  the  timely  de- 
parture of  the  Moghal  troops  opened  the  prison  doors  of 
the  old  king,  whose  few  remaining  years  were  spent  in 
comparative  peace  upon  his  father's  throne. 

After  its  conquest  by  Mohammad  Ghori,  in  1186,  fi-om 


THE    CONTEMPOKAKY    INDIAN    DYNASTIES.  81 

the  Turks  of  Ghazni,  the  Panjab,  or  Land  of  Five  EivsTs, 
commonly  shared  the  fortunes  of  the  Dehli  kingdom. 
Harassed  in  the  thirteenth  century  by  the  Moghals,  it  was 
ruled  in  the  fiist  years  of  the  fifteenth  century  by  Khizr 
Khan,  in  the  name  of  his  master  Timur.  Hardly  had  the 
founder  of  the  Saiyid  dynasty  won  Dehh,  when  he  began  to 
lose  his  hold  upon  the  Panjab,  which  presently  passed  into 
the  hands  of  Belol  Lodi,  the  destined  supplanter  of  the 
Saiyid  line.  From  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  to 
the  time  of  Babar's  invasion,  the  Land  of  the  Five  Rivers 
formed  part  of  the  dominions  ruled  by  the  house  of  Lodi. 

Miiltan,  hke  its  northern  neighbour,  passed  from  one 
Mussulman  conqueror  to  another,  from  the  Ghaznevid 
princes  to  the  house  of  Ghor,  from  thence  to  the  Slave 
Kings  of  Dehli  and  their  successors,  down  to  the  end  of 
the  fourteenth  century.  After  Timiir's  invasion,  the  country 
seems  to  have  drifted  away  from  its  old  allegiance,  until  in 
1445  it  fell  into  the  guiding  hands  of  the  Afghan,  Kutab- 
ud-din  Langa,  whose  family  during  the  next  eighty  years 
governed  it  without  a  master. 

From  the  middle  of  the  eighth  century,  when  the  Sumera 
Rajputs  drove  out  the  Ai-ab  invader,  Sindh  throve  under  a 
native  Hindu  dynasty  for  nearly  five  hundred  years. 
Early  in  the  thirteenth  century  the  Sumera  princes  were 
ousted  by  a  Mussulman  named  Nasir-ud-din.  After  his 
death  Sindh  became  the  prize  of  another  Rajput  dynasty, 
that  of  the  Jains,  who  paid  some  kind  of  tribute  to  the 
Sultan  of  Dehli,  and  towards  the  end  of  the  fourteenth 
century  embraced  the  creed  of  their  Lord  Paramount.  A 
succession  of  Jain  princes  with  Mohammadan  names  go- 
verned the  counti-y  until,  in  1520,  the  dynasty  was  dis- 
placed by  that  of  the  Arghuns  from  Khorasan,  who 
presently  became  masters  of  Miiltan  also. 

The  old  Hindu  province  of  Gujarat  or  Saurashtra,  ruled 
by  Ballahi  princes  for  two  centuries,  passed  in  524  under 
the  sway  of  a  Chaura  dynasty,  which  flourished  for  about 

G 


82  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

four  hundred  years,  giving  place  in  its  tui'n  to  the  Salonka 
or  Chalukya  line  of  Rajput  princes,  led  ofi'  by  Muh-aj,  the 
warlike  son-in-law  of  the  last  Ballabi  king.  Under  these 
princes,  who  came  from  the  Dakhan,  the  land  of  Krishna 
prospered  fairly  on  the  whole  for  two  centuries,  suffering 
less  than  its  neighbours  from  Mohammadan  im-oads,  and 
bearing  on  its  surface  many  noble  monuments  of  its  rulers' 
piety,  splendour,  and  care  for  the  common  good.  It  still 
abounds  in  temples  built  by  Jain  architects,  and  the  great 
reservoir  of  Kui'an  Sagar — the  Sea  of  Kuran — constructed 
in  the  eleventh  century,  was  effaced  by  a  flood  so  late  as 
1814.* 

In  1228,  this  dynasty  was  replaced  by  a  line  of  Waghila 
chiefs,  who  ruled  the  country  during  the  rest  of  that  cen- 
tuiy,  until  it  passed  under  the  sway  of  Ala-ud-din  Khilji, 
then  Sultan  of  Dehli.  A  hundred  years  later,  about  1391, 
a  new  kingdom  was  founded  in  Gujarat  by  the  son  of  a 
Rajput  convert  to  Islam.  Sent  thither  from  Dehli  to  dis- 
place the  mild-hearted  governor  Farat  Khan,  whose  kind- 
ness to  the  Hindus  had  roused  the  rancour  of  his  own 
countrymen,  Mozaflfar  Khan  set  up  as  king  of  the  province 
entrusted  to  him  as  viceroy,  and  mai-ked  his  reign  by  fierce 
persecutions  of  the  people  who  still  clung  to  his  ancestral 
faith.  His  gi-andson,  Ahmad  Shah,  the  builder  of  Ahmad- 
abiid,  was  equally  renowned  for  his  wars,  his  splendid 
buildings,  and  his  fierce  zeal  against  idolaters.  The 
peninsula  of  Katiawar,  hitherto  ruled  in  practice  by  its  own 
Hindu  chiefs,  was  now  brought  more  closely  under  the 
Mussulman  yoke.  One  of  his  successors,  Mahmiid  Shah, 
turned  his  arms  with  success  against  almost  eveiy  neigh- 
bour, and  raised  his  kingdom  to  its  highest  pitch  of 
greatness  by  land  and  sea.  An  embassy  from  Dehli  bore 
witness  to  his  power  ;  and  his  fleets,  in  concert  with  those 

*  The  Jain  temples  of  Mount  Abu  were  built  by  Bhfm  D^o  about 
1030,  and  his  successor  Kuran  built  those  at  Gimar,  as  well  as  the 
reservoir  that  bore  his  name. 


THE    CO.VTEMPORAKT    INDIAN    DYNASTIES.  83 

of  the  Maniluk  Sultan  of  Egypt,  inflicted  a  signal  check 
upon  the  Portuguese  invaders  of  Western  India.  In  the 
reign  of  llahmud's  descendant,  Bahadur  Shah,  the  kings 
of  Kandesh,  Berar,  and  Ahmadnagar  paid  formal  homage 
to  the  king  of  Gujarat,  Tvhile  Malwa,  after  repeated  strug- 
gles, became  a  part  of  his  dominions. 

The  Mussulman  kingdom  of  Malwa  had  thus  lasted 
about  a  hundred  and  thirty  years.  That  province,  lying 
between  Gujarat  and  Bundalkhand,  Tvith  the  Narbadha  for 
its  southern  boundary,  had  been  governed  by  a  long  succes- 
sion of  Hindu  princes,  including  the  far-famed  Vikram- 
aditya,  and,  some  centuries  later,  the  Rajah  Bhoj,  before  it 
passed  under  the  Mohammadan  yoke  in  the  beginning  of 
the  fom-teenth  century.  For  nearly  a  hnndi-ed  years  its 
rulers  were  viceroys  of  the  kings  of  Delhi.  At  last,  in 
1401,  Dilawar  Khan  of  Ghor,  a  Pathan  noble  whom 
Firoz  Toghlak  had  made  Governor  of  ilalwa,  threw  off  the 
last  shi'ed  of  allegiance  to  Dehh  and  founded  a  kingdom 
whose  sovereigns  were  always  fighting  -n-ith  this  neighbour 
or  with  that.  One  of  them,  Mahmiid  Khilji,  besieged 
Dehli  itself  in  the  days  of  Saivid  Mohammad,  but  was 
driven  off,  as  we  saw,  by  the  timely  prowess  of  Beldl  Lodi.* 
Another  Mahmiid  fled  to  Gujarat  from  the  bondage  pre- 
pared for  him  by  his  aggressive  Hindu  minister,  Medni 
Rai.  Restored  to  his  throne  by  the  help  of  King  Mozaffar, 
be  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  troops  of  Rajah  Sanga  of 
Chitor,  in  a  fruitless  effort  to  drive  Medni  Rai  out  of 
Chanderi.  The  chivalrous  Rajput  forthwith  set  him  free, 
a  kindness  which  Mahmiid  afterwards  requited  by  wantonly 
attacking  his  son  and  successor.  Rattan  Singh.  A  fitting 
Nemesis  however  dogged  his  steps,  in  the  shape  of 
Bahadur  Shah  of  Gujarat,  who  hstened  the  more  readily 
to  the  Hindu's  prayer  for  help,  in  that  he  himself  had 
cause  to  complain  of  Mahmiid's  treachery  to  the  son  of  his 
old  ally.  Mandu,  the  hill-crowning  capital  of  Malwa,  was 
*  Page  74, 

g2 


84  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

stoiined  by  the  soldiers  of  Gujarat,  MahiuuJ  himself  taken 
prisoner,  and  his  kingdom  annexed  to  that  of  Bahadur 
Shah. 

South  of  Malwa  and  south-east  of  Gujarat,  lay  the  little 
Mohammadan  kingdom  of  Kandesh,  in  those  days  a  rich, 
smiling  valley,  watered  by  the  Tapti  and  a  host  of  smaller 
streams,  which  successive  princes,  Hindu  or  Mohammadan, 
applied  to  the  enrichment  of  the  surrounding  fields.  Ruled 
for  long  centuries  from  Malwa  or  Deogarh,  it  fell  under 
the  sway  of  its  first  Mohammadan  governor  in  the  reign  of 
Firoz  Toghlak.  In  1399,  Malik  Rajah  was  succeeded  by 
his  son,  Nasir  Khan,  who  first  claimed  the  rank  and 
honours  of  an  independent  king.  His  reign  was  marked 
by  the  capture  of  the  strong  hill-fortress  of  Asi'rgarh,  one 
of  the  last  remaining  fastnesses  of  a  Hindu  dynasty,  sprung 
from  an  old  race  of  Shepherd  Kings.  The  infernal 
treachery  which  issued  in  the  seizure  of  a  stronghold 
ruled  by  a  friendly  Hindu  prince,  and  in  the  murder  of 
the  prince  himself  with  all  his  family,  was  hailed  by  pious 
Moslems  as  a  glorious  triumph  over  the  infidel.  This 
noble  deed  was  commemorated  by  the  founding  of  Bur- 
hanpur,  a  city  which  one  of  Nasir's  successors,  Adil 
Khan,  enriched  with  buildings  and  waterworks  of  sur- 
passing beauty  or  magnificent  design.*  Under  its  Mo- 
hammadan kings  Kandesh  continued  on  the  whole  to 
prosper,  until  in  the  last  days  of  the  sixteenth  century  it 
passed  under  the  wide  sway  of  Akbar  himself. 

After  his  revolt  from  Mohammad  Toghlak  in  1338, 
Fakr-ud-din  and  his  successors  reigned  for  more  than  two 
centuries  over  Bengal.  Of  the  events  of  that  period  not 
much  is  to  be  learned  from  the  native  chroniclers — a  rare 
defect  in  the  annals  of  any  Mohammadan  province.  Fre- 
quent changes  of  dynasty  happened  of  course  in  the  usual 
violent  way.     One  of  the  successful   usurpers  was  Rajah 

*  Burh^npiir  is  still  noted  for  the  manufacture  of  rich  and  beautiful 
brocades,  muslins,  and  other  tissues. 


THE    CONTEMPORARY    INDIAN    DYNASTIES.  bi) 

Krtns,  a  Hindu  Zamindar,  whose  son  became  a  Moham- 
madan,  under  the  title  of  Jalal-ud-din.  Several  of  the 
kings  who  reigned  m  the  fifteenth  century  were  Abyssinian 
slaves  or  chiefs.  At  the  time  of  Babar's  advent,  their  rule 
had  been  replaced  and  their  power  utterly  broken  by  the 
bouse  of  Ala-ud-din,  whose  sceptre  was  ere  long  to  pass 
into  the  hands  of  Humayun's  conqueror,  the  redoubtable 
Afghan  Shir  Shah. 

Di'^ided  by  the  Great  Desert  from  Sindh  and  Miiltan, 
and  spreading  eastward  nearly  to  the  Jamna,  rolls  the 
broad  sea  of  sandy  rock-crested  plain  once  called  Rajas- 
than,  "the  land  of  kings,"  but  now  generally  known  as 
Eiijputana,  "  the  country  of  the  Rajputs."  Here  reigned 
from  century  to  century,  hither  from  time  to  time  fled 
with  thousands  of  their  followers  and  clansmen  from 
neighbouring  countries  the  high-souled,  pure-blooded  de- 
scendants of  ancient  Aiyan  lords.  Century  after  century, 
from  the  days  of  the  Arab  Kasim  to  those  of  the  Moghal 
B;ibar,  these  proud  warrior  chiefs  defied  the  attacks  or  dis- 
owned in  all  but  name  the  yoke  of  successive  invaders. 
Some  pai'ts  of  the  country  were  never  conquered  at  all  by 
the  Pathan  kings  of  Dehli.  Others  fluctuated  between 
uneasy  acquiescence  and  oft-recurring  revolt.  Foremost 
in  bold,  nor  often  vain  resistance,  were  the  Rajput  princes 
of  Mewar,  whose  capital,  Chitor,  crowned  the  rugged  hills 
that  guarded  their  eastern  frontier.  At  the  end  of  the 
twelfth  century,  the  Rahtdr  clan  of  Rajputs  left  their  early 
seats  in  Kanauj  to  wander  westward  across  the  Aravalli 
hills,  and  found  a  new  kingdom  in  Marwar.* 

Under  the  feudal  system  which  bound  chiefs  and  fol- 
lowers together  by  strong  ties  of  blood  and  fellowship, 
the^e  Rajput  races  succeeded  for  the  most  part  in  main- 
taining a  steady  front  against  all  assailants.  A  nation  of 
born  soldiers,  who  held  their  lands  by  a  kind  of  joint 
mihtary  tenure,  they  mustered  readily  at  the  call  of  their 
*  See  page  51. 


86 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


hereditary  chiefs,  inflaming  their  courage  with  songs  and 
tales  commemorative  of  past  glories,  and  betraj'Lng  aUke 
in  victory  and  defeat  the  ancestral  \ii-tues  of  a  proud, 


'Ml\i!ii^f^M^ 


chivabous,  highbred,  patriotic  race;*  virtues  not  wholly 
lost  in  theu-  enfeebled,  opium-eating  childi-en  of  the  pre- 
sent day. 

*  "  With  them,"  says  Elphinstone  (p.  76),  "  the  founder  of  a  state, 
after  reserving  a  demesne  for  himself,  divided  the  rest  of  the  country 
among  his  relations,  according  to  the  Hindu  laws  of  partition.  The 
chief  to  whom  each  share  was  assigned  owed  mihtary  service  and 
general  obedience  to  the  prince,  but  exercised  unlimited  authority 
within  his  own  lands.  He  in  his  turn  divided  his  lands  on  similar 
terms  among  his  relations,  and  a  chain  of  vassal-chiefs  was  thus  estab- 
lished, to  whom  the  ci\-il  government  as  well  as  the  militaiy  force  of 
the  country  was  committed." 


THE    COXTEJIPOK.VRT    IXDIAN    DTXASTIES.  O  t 

One  of  the  foremost  Rajput  princes  of  the  days  before 
Babar,  was  the  Rana  Sanga  of  Chitor,  who  in  the  early 
years  of  the  sixteenth  century  maintained  a  successful 
warfare  against  Gujarat,  and  defeated  in  battle  Mahmud, 
the  Mohammadan  king  of  Malwa.  How  courteously  he 
treated  his  royal  prisoner,  and  how  meanly  the  courtesy 
was  afteiTvards  requited,  we  have  already  seen.'" 

After  the  death  of  Hasan  Gangu,  founder  of  the  Bahmani 
kiugdam  in  the  Dakhan,  his  successors  waged  continual 
wai-s  with  the  Hindu  Rajahs  of  Telingana  on  the  east,  and 
of  Bijayanagar  on  the  south  of  their  dominions.  In  1421, 
Ahmad  Shah  dispossessed  the  former  of  their  chief  city 
Wai-angul,  and  made  a  savage  inroad  into  Bijayanagar,  part 
of  which  was  added  to  his  own  broad  realms.  His  son 
Ala-ud-din  partially  subdued  the  Kankan,  lying  between 
his  western  frontier  and  the  sea,  and  removed  his  capital 
fi'om  Kulbarga  to  the  heights  where  Bidar  stiU  towers  in 
ruined  majesty  above  the  plain.  In  the  reign  of  his  gi'and- 
son,  Nizam  Shah,  the  Dakhan,  overrun  by  the  King  of 
Malwa,  was  saved  from  imminent  ruin  by  the  timely  inter- 
ference of  the  King  of  Gujarat.  In  1-177,  Kizam's  son 
Mohammad  exacted  ti-ibute  from  the  Rajah  of  Orissa,  and 
carried  his  arms  down  the  eastern  coast  as  far-  as  Kanchi, 
the  modem  Conjeveram.  On  the  western  coast  he  com- 
pleted the  subjection  of  the  Kankan,  part  of  which  had  for 
about  forty  years  defied  the  arms  of  successive  Bahmani 
kings. 

The  real  conqueror  of  the  Kankan,  Mahmud  Gawan,  the 
king's  chief  minister,  one  of  the  noblest  men  of  that  or  any 
age,  now  fell  a  blameless  victim  to  the  plots  of  rivals  who 
envied  him  his  well-earned  honours  and  commanding  in- 
fluence with  the  king.  Too  late  Mohammad  learned  the 
innocence  of  the  minister  he  had  doomed  to  a  hasty  death. 
From  that  time  the  glory  of  the  Bahmani  kingdom  began 
to  fade  away.  His  own  death  in  the  following  yeai'  paved 
*  Page  83. 


88  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

the  way  for  the  dismemberment  of  the  Dakhan  under  his 
child-heir.  One  large  slice  of  his  kingdom,  from  the  sea 
to  the  Bima  and  Kistna  rivers,  passed  under  the  rule  of 
Yusuf  Adil  Shah,  who  fixed  his  capital  at  Bijapiir.  The 
bought  slave  and  faithful  follower  of  Mahmiid  Gawan,  he 
governed  his  new  kingdom  ably  for  twenty-one  years, 
boating  olf  assailants  from  every  quarter,  and  attaching 
his  Maratha  subjects  to  his  rule  by  raising  many  of  them 
to  high  civU  and  military  posts.  One  of  his  successors, 
Ibrahim,  adopted  the  Maratha  language,  instead  of  Persian, 
for  the  public  accounts.  The  d^asty,  which  survived  the 
reign  of  Babar  and  lasted  into  that  of  Aurangzib,  was  in- 
volved in  frequent  wars,  among  others  with  the  Portuguese, 
who  steadily  encroached  upon  its  seaward  possessions. 

To  the  north  of  Bijapiir  grew  up  the  rival  state  of 
Ahmadnagar,  founded  by  Nizam  Shah,  who  gave  his 
original  name  of  Ahmad  to  the  city  he  built  for  his  capital. 
He  also  appears  to  have  favoured  his  Maratha  subjects ; 
and  his  successor,  Burhan  Shah,  for  the  first  time  recorded 
in  Mohammadan  history,  raised  a  Brahman  to  the  post  of 
Peshwa,  or  prime  minister.  In  spite  of  the  Brahman's 
abilities,  his  master  was  compelled  in  1530  to  do  homage 
to  the  King  of  Gujarat ;  but  the  dynasty  struggled  on  with 
varying  fortune  to  its  final  overthrow  by  the  troops  of  the 
Emperor  Shah  Jahan. 

Out  of  the  eastern  provinces  of  the  Bahmani  kingdom, 
Imad  Shah,  a  converted  Hindu,  who  had  risen  high  in  the 
service  of  Mahmiid  Gawan,  carved  for  himself  the  kingdom 
of  Berar,  which  extended  from  the  Injiidri  hiUs  to  the 
Godavari,  with  the  highland  city  of  GawUgarh  for  its 
capital  After  a  somewhat  stormy  existence  of  nearly 
ninety  years,  Berar  was  finally  absorbed  by  its  old  rival 
Ahmadnagar. 

A  longer  life,  even  to  the  days  of  Aurangzib,  awaited 
the  kingdom  of  Golkonda,  founded  in  1512  by  Kutab 
Shah,    a   Turk    whom    Mahmud    Gawan    had    appointed 


THE    CONTEMPORARY    INDIAN    DYNASTIES.  89 

governor  of  the  country  between  the  Godavari  and  the 
Kistna.  During  a  reign  of  thirty-one  years  he  made  fresh 
conquests  from  the  Rajahs  of  Tehngana  and  Bijayanagar. 
His  successors  enlarged  then-  dominions  at  the  expense  of 
their  Hindu  neighbours  in  Orissa  and  the  Carnatic,  and 
one  of  them  in  1589  founded  the  city  of  Haidarabad, 
which  became  in  after  years  the  splendid  capital  of  the 
Nizam's  dominions.*  Meanwhile,  the  diminished  sway  of 
the  old  Bahmani  kings  was  still  represented  by  the  dynasty 
of  Barid  Shah,  which  ruled  at  Bidar  do^Ti  to  the  middle  of 
the  seventeenth  century. 

One  of  the  countries  with  which  these  Mussulman 
princes  waged  frequent  war  was  Orissa,  the  Holy  Land  of 
successive  Hindu  creeds,  and  the  seat  for  a  centiu-y  and 
a  half  of  a  powerful  Yavan  dynasty,  founded  apparently  by 
Greek  invaders  from  the  regions  watered  by  the  Ganges. 
In  this  land  of  forest-covered  hiUs  and  alluvial  plains, 
stretching  southwards  fi-om  Midnapur  to  Ganjam,  with  the 
broad  Mahanadi  winding  through  it  to  the  Bay  of  Bengal, 
a  race  of  Sanskrit-speaking  Arj'ans  seems  to  have  settled 
some  centuries  before  the  reign  of  King  Asoka,  pushing  the 
aboriginal  dwellers  westward  into  the  hills.  Thither,  from 
about  the  fifth  century  b.c,  a  succession  of  Yavan  immi- 
grants from  the  north  brought  with  them  the  religion  of 
Buddha,  and  the  manners  of  a  kindred  but  separate  Aryan 
race,  whom  modem  scholarship  would  identify  with  the 
Ionian  Greeks.  The  worship  of  the  sun,  at  any  rate, 
came  in  time  to  be  supplanted  by  that  of  Buddha,  and  the 
prevalence  of  the  new  faith  for  centuries  afterwards  is 
clearly  attested  by  the  rock-hewn  caves,  shrines,  sculptures, 
and  inscriptions,  which  cover  tlie  country  with  curious 
suggestions  of  Greek  art  applied  to  Buddhist  purposes.! 

*  It  was  called  at  first  Bhagnagar,  the  name  it  still  bears  among  the 
Hindus.    His  son  Haidar  changed  the  name  to  Haidarabad. 

t  See  Hunter's  "Orissa,"  vol.  i.  Mr.  Hunter's  attempt  to  prove 
the  identity  of  the  Tavanas  in  Orissa  with  the  lonians  of  Greek  history 
and  the  Greek  settlers  in  Kabul  and  Lahor  is  well  worth  considering. 


90  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Certain  it  is,  however,  that  a  Yavan  dynasty,  entering 
Orissa  from  the  sea,  ahout  323  a.d.,  was  expelled  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  later  by  a  Hindu  prince  of  the  Kesari 
line,  whose  advent  paved  the  way  for  the  gi-adual  displace- 
ment of  Buddhist  by  Brahmanic  forms  of  worship.  New 
temples  everywhere  arose  in  honour  of  Siva,  whose  worship 
in  its  tm-n  succumbed  in  many  places  to  the  milder  rites  of 
the  more  genial  Vishnu,  best  known  to  the  myriads  who 
yearly  flock  from  all  India  to  the  priestly  paradise  of 
Piiri  under  his  later  name  of  Jagannath,  the  Lord  of 
Heaven. 

The  Kesari  dynasty,  which  ruled  Orissa  for  about  sis 
hundred  and  fifty  years,  was  succeeded  in  its  turn  by  the 
house  of  Ganga  Vansa,  in  whose  days  the  worship  of 
Vishnu  won  its  way  into  the  head-quarters  of  the  Sivaite 
priesthood  at  Jajpur  on  the  Baitarani.  In  the  thirteenth 
century  Hindu  ai-chitectm-e  reached  its  zenith,  and  the 
Orissa  kingdom  extended  almost  to  the  Godavari.  In  the 
middle  of  that  century  the  people  of  Orissa  hurled  back  a 
Pathan  invasion  from  Bengal,  and  ten  years  later  another 
inroad  was  followed  by  a  like  defeat.  In  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century  the  Rajah  of  Orissa  joined  his  Hindu 
neighbours  in  a  league  against  the  Mussulman  invaders  of 
Southern  India,  but  some  thirty  years  later  he  himself  was 
paying  tribute  to  a  Mohammadan  king.  In  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century  the  armies  of  Orissa  were  aiding  a 
Mussulman  ally  against  the  great  Hindu  monarch  of  the 
South,  Krishna  Raya :  but  in  vain.  In  1568,  the  Orissa 
prince,  no  longer  of  the  Ganga  Vansa  line,  beat  back  a 
formidable  inroad  from  Bengal ;  but  this  last  flickering 
effort  of  native  patriotism  delaj'ed  for  a  few  years  only  his 
country's  doom.  In  1567  the  Afghan  King  of  Bengal 
marched  through  Orissa  at  the  head  of  an  army  which 
nothing  could  withstand,  and  for  some  unquiet  years  the 
country  remained  in  the  hands  of  its  new  masters.  At 
last,  when  Bengal  itself  had  acknowledged  the  superior 


THE    CONTEIIPORAEY    INDIAN    DYNASTIES.  91 

might  of  Akbai-,  Orissa  also  was  finally  conquered  by  his 
great  Hindu  general,  Todar  Mall. 

Kiisbna  Eaya,  the  Arthur  of  Southern  India,  mounted 
the  throne  of  Bijayanagar  in  the  fii'st  yeai-s  of  the  sixteenth 
centm-y.  Ever  since  1347,  if  not  much  earlier,  the  Hindu 
kingdom  of  Bijayanagar  had  played  a  leading  part  in  the 
history  of  Soutbem  India.  From  the  usual  want,  however, 
of  native  annalists,  our  knowledge  of  the  country  comes  to 
us  in  gUmpses  ofl'ered  by  the  historians  of  the  neighbom-ing 
Mohammadan  states.  The  kings  of  the  country,  whose 
seaward  fi-ontier  extended  from  Goa  to  Calicut,  waged 
frequent  wars  with  the  Bahmani  princes,  and  one  of  them, 
in  1193,  suffered  a  heavy  defeat  fi-om  the  ruler  of  Bijapur. 
The  glory  and  gi-eatness  of  the  kingdom  culminated  with 
Krishna  Kaya,  whose  sway  extended  over  nearly  all 
Southern  India  south  of  the  Kistna,  and  whose  arms  were 
often  successful  against  his  Mohammadan  neighbours. 

So  gi-eat  at  last  grew  the  power  of  Bijayanagar,  that  the 
kings  of  the  four  Mohammadan  states  in  the  Dakhan 
leagued  together  in  1565  against  Ramraj,  successor  to 
Krishna  Raya.  Their  combined  forces  crossed  the 
Kistna,  and  encountered  the  hosts  of  Kiimraj  and  his 
two  brothers  near  Talikdt.  The  Hindu  horse  charged 
boldly  down  upon  the  foe,  with  a  fury  which  nothing  could 
check  until  they  came  within  reach  of  the  guns  brought 
forward  by  the  King  of  Ahmadnagar.  Against  these 
Ramraj  hurled  the  pick  of  his  infantry,  who  fell  in  heaps 
under  their  deadly  haU.  A  timely  charge  of  Mussulman 
cavalry  turned  the  disorder  into  hopeless  rout.  The  brave 
old  king  himself  was  taken  prisoner  and  mercilessly  be- 
headed ;  one  of  his  brothers  died  fighting ;  the  routed 
troops  were  followed  up  with  fearful  slaughter ;  and  imtold 
treasures  fell  into  the  victors'  hands.  Bijayanagar  was 
presently  sacked  and  well-nigh  destroyed ;  and  the  last 
gi-eat  Hindu  kingdom  in  Southern  India  thenceforth  ceased 
to  be. 


92 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    PORTUGUESE    IN    INDIA. 

About  thirty  years  before  Babar's  victoiy  at  Panipat,  one 
of  the  smaller  Christian  states  in  Europe  began  to  take  an 
ambitious  part  in  the  affairs  of  India.  As  early  as  1415, 
the  success  of  the  Venetians  and  Genoese  in  securing  a 
monopoly  of  the  carrying  trade  between  Europe  and  India 
had  fired  Prince  Henry  of  Portugal  with  the  hope  of  divert- 
ing some  part  of  a  trade  so  enviable  to  his  own  shores.  It 
was  not,  however,  tiU  the  reign  of  John  II.  that  Bartho- 
lemewDiaz  fulfilled  Prince  Henry's  previsions  by  rounding, 
in  1486,  the  Cape  of  Storms,  which  was  afterwards  to 
bear  the  more  cheering  title  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
Eleven  years  later,  King  John's  successor,  Emmanuel, 
despatched  a  fleet  M-hich,  under  the  famous  Vasco  da 
Gama,  rounded  the  Cape,  discovered  Natal,  and  in  May  of 
the  following  year  cast  anchor  near  the  city  of  Calicut  on 
the  Malabar  coast.  Courteously  entertained  by  the  Zamo- 
rin,  the  Hindu  ruler  of  the  province.  Da  Gama  failed 
wholly  to  baffle  the  intrigues  of  the  Moorish  traders  from 
Egypt  and  Arabia,  who  saw  in  these  western  strangers 
their  likely  rivals  and  possible  supplanters.  He  sailed 
homewards  in  August,  his  three  ships  followed  for  some 
way  in  vain  by  a  fleet  of  forty  vessels  sent  out  to  capture 
them. 

A  fleet  of  thirteen  ships  and  1,200  men  under  Pedro 
Cabral  appeared  before  Calicut  in  the  autumn  of  1500, 
less  one  ship  lost  with  all  its  crew  on  the  voyage  thither. 
The  strangers  were  allowed  to  establish  a  factory,  which 


THE    PORTUGUESE    IX    INDIA.  93 

the  wrathful  Mohammadans  carried  by  storm.  This  out- 
rage the  Portuguese  commander  requited  by  setting  ten 
Moorish  ships  on  fire  after  their  cargoes  had  been  emptied 
into  his  own  vessels,  and  cannonading  the  city  itself.  At 
Cochin,  where  he  was  kindly  received,  Cabral  resumed  the 
lading  of  his  fleet,  and  took  in  some  fui-ther  cargo  at 
Kananor. 

Soon  after  his  depai-ture  homewards,  the  Zamorin  of 
Calicut  sent  a  powerful  fleet  to  intercept  the  few  ships 
which,  under  Juan  de  Xueva,  were  looking  after  Portu- 
guese interests  at  Cochin  and  Kananor.  Careless  of  the 
odds  against  him,  the  bold  Portuguese  made  ready  for 
action,  and  used  his  guns  to  such  purpose  that  the  assail- 
ants speedily  sheered  ofl'. 

In  1502  a  much  larger  fleet  than  Cabral's,  carrying 
several  hundred  soldiers  on  board,  saUed  out  of  the  Tagus 
under  Vasco  da  Gama,  who  was  empowered  to  take  full 
revenge  for  the  previous  insults  offered  to  the  Portuguese 

flag- 
Improving  upon  orders  not  perhaps  too  mild,  the  fiery 
Christian  harried  the  Mussulmans  wherever  he  met  them, 
capturing  a  shipload  of  Mecca-bound  pilgiims,  and  doom- 
ing hundreds  of  helpless  prisoners  to  a  cruel  death  in  the 
flames  of  their  own  vessels.  The  Zamorin  of  Calicut 
being  backward  in  making  amends  for  the  treatment  of 
Cabral,  the  ruthless  admiral  hanged  some  fifty  natives 
taken  out  of  fishing-boats  in  the  harbom-,  destroyed  great 
part  of  the  town  by  bombardment,  and  set  sail  thence  for 
Cochin,  where  his  countrymen  carried  on  a  fair  trade 
under  the  protection  of  its  friendly  Piajah. 

In  lc03  Da  Gama  returned  to  Europe.  Meanwhile 
another  fleet  from  Portugal,  under  Alfonso  Albuquerque 
and  his  two  brothers,  arrived  at  Cochin  in  time  to  frustrate 
the  Zamorin's  designs  against  his  vassal,  the  Rajah  of  that 
place,  who  had  dared  to  encourage  the  pushing  strangers 
from  the  west.     Once  more  defeated  and  compelled  to  sue 


94 


HISTOET    OF    INDIA. 


for  peace,  the  Zamorin  availed  himself  of  Albuquerque's 
departure  to  renew  bis  attack  upon  Cocbin,  witb  a  larger 
fleet  tban  ever,  and  an  army  reinforced  by  the  troops  of 
bis  lord  paramount,  the  Kajah  of  Bijayanagar.  In  a  series 
of  hard-fought  battles  against  fearful  odds,  the  brave  Pa- 
checo  beat  back  the  invader  with  heavy  loss ;  and  a  fresh 
fleet  from  Portugal  under  Soarez  followed  up  his  comi-ade's 
successes  by  the  bombardment  of  CaHcut,  and  the  capture 
of  all  the  Zamorin's  vessels  in  fair  fight. 

Four  years  later,  in  1507,  a  grand  attack  upon  the  rising 
Portuguese  power  in  the  Indian  seas  was  concerted  between 
the  Tenetians,  the  Sultan  of  Egypt,  the  Zamorin,  and  the 
Mussulman  king  of  Gujarat.  Don  Francis  Almeida,  the 
fii-st  Portuguese  Viceroy  in  India,  had  to  meet  this  new 
danger  as  be  best  could.  The  allied  fleets  bore  down 
upon  that  of  Portugal,  commanded  by  Lorenzo,  the  vice- 
roy's son.  A  sharp  engagement  near  Chaul,  on  the 
Kankan  coast,  issued  in  the  defeat  of  the  Portuguese 
and  the  sinking  of  their  flagship  with  nearly  all  on 
board,  including  Lorenzo  himself.  For  this  disaster 
Almeida  soon  took  his  revenge.  The  port  of  Dabal 
destroyed  by  the  guns  of  his  fleet,  ho  sailed  northwards 
after  the  retiiing  foe,  coming  up  with  them  oft'  Diu, 
at  the  outer  entrance  to  the  Gulf  of  Cambay.  The  alhed 
admii-als  at  once  accepted  the  challenge,  and  after  a  hard 
fight,  in  which  all  the  best  of  the  Mohammadan  ships  were 
burnt  or  captured,  the  remainder  spread  all  sail  in  timely 
escape. 

Almeida  was  erelong  displaced  as  viceroy  by  Albu- 
querque, who  raised  the  Portuguese  power  in  the  Indian 
seas  to  its  greatest  height,  and  won  for  it  a  noble  and 
commanding  seat  by  his  final  capture  of  Goa  from  the  King 
of  Bijapur.  His  conquests  ranged  from  Ormuz  in  the  Per- 
sian Gulf  to  Malacca  in  the  Malay  Peninsula.  Both  towns 
were  strongly  fortified,  and  the  whole  sea-board  of  Western 
India  became  dotted  with  Portuguese  factories.     Baflied 


THE    PORTUGUESE   IN   INDIA.  95 

in  Ms  attempts  on  Aden  and  Calicut,  he  yet  forced  the 
Zamorin  to  sue  for  peace,  crushed  the  Mohammadan  trade 
in  the  Indian  seas,  and  diverted  the  bulk  of  India's  export 
trade  with  the  West  from  the  Adriatic  to  the  Tagus.  In 
spite,  however,  of  these  splendid  achievements,  Albu- 
querque fell  into  disgrace  at  Lisbon,  and  the  news  of  his ' 
supersession  by  his  foe  Soarez  broke  his  heart  in  the  last 
days  of  1515.  With  his  d3Tng  breath  the  great  viceroy, 
whose  successes  had  been  marred  by  no  acts  of  wanton 
cruelty,  bequeathed  his  son  and  a  small  estate  to  his  sove- 
reign's care,  and  appealed  to  his  Indian  career  as  the 
eloquent  witness  to  his  real  deserts.* 

Sis  years  after  his  death,  Diego  Lopez  de  Siquera,  suc- 
cessor to  Soarez,  saUed  against  Diu  with  forty  ships  and 
three  or  four  thousand  men.  But  the  bold  front  shown 
by  the  Gnjarati  admiral  cooled  his  corn-age,  and  not  with- 
out heavy  loss  did  his  vessels  make  good  their  retreat  to 
Chaul.  In  the  following  year  Goa  itself  was  besieged  to 
no  pm-pose  by  the  King  of  Bijapiir.  In  1527  the  fleets  of 
Gujarat  were  nearly  destroyed  in  an  unsuccessful  attack  on 
the  Portuguese  station  of  Chaul.  Four  years  later  Antonio 
di  Silveira,  with  400  ships  and  22,000  men,  made  one 
more  effort  to  capture  Diu ;  but  the  genius  and  the  guns 
of  Eumi  Khan,  chief  engineer  to  the  King  of  Gujarat, 
drove  him  out  of  the  bay. 

In  spite  of  their  fresh  reptdse,  the  Portuguese  erelong 
gained  a  firm  foothold  on  the  long-coveted  port,  by  means 
of  a  well-timed  alliance  with  Bahadur  Shah,  the  enter- 
prising ruler  of  Gujarat.     That  monarch's  fears,  however, 

*  Groa,  the  once  splendid  capital  of  the  Portngnese  in  India,  but  now 
fallen  into  slow  decay,  lies  in  an  island  about  twenty-four  miles  round. 
Its  harbour,  one  of  the  noblest  in  India,  is  formed  by  an  arm  of  the 
sea  into  which  flows  a  small  river.  The  old  city  etui  contaius  a  number 
of  fine  churches,  monasteries,  and  other  buildings,  the  faded  relics  of 
former  greatness.  The  Goa  territory  is  about  forty  miles  long  by 
twenty  broad,  with  a  population  of  about  300,000,  most  of  whom  are 
Koman  Catholics  under  a  Portuguese  archbishop. 


96  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

were  soon  roused  by  the  encroaching  policy  of  his  new 
friends,  and  his  death  in  a  chance  affray  between  his 
attendants  and  the  Portuguese  gave  rise  to  charges,  not 
quite  perhaps  unfounded,  of  preconcerted  treachery  on 
both  sides.* 

Meanwhile  a  great  fleet  from  Egypt,  equipped  by  orders 
from  Constantinople,  and  commanded  by  a  Turkish 
admiral,  bore  down  in  September,  1537,  for  the  Gulf  of 
Cambay,  with  intent  to  drive  the  Portuguese  out  of  Gu- 
jarat. But  the  brave  Silveira,  with  only  600  men,  prepared 
to  defend  to  the  last  the  new  factory,  which  he  had  already 
turned  into  a  little  fortress.  After  eight  months  of  immi- 
nent peril,  of  sufferings  more  and  more  enhanced  by  famine 
and  disease,!  the  wasted  garrison  were  gladdened  by  the 
approach  of  a  fleet  which  the  Viceroy  of  Goa  had  brought 
in  the  nick  of  time  to  their  help.  Sallying  forth  from  their 
battered  works,  they  drove  before  them  the  disheartened 
besiegers,  and  Diu  was  saved. 

The  history  of  the  Portuguese  during  that  century  may 
as  well  be  finished  here.  Two  more  futile  attacks  on  Diu 
by  Mahmiid  Shah  of  Gujarat,  in  1545  and  1548,  were 
followed  by  about  twenty  years  of  chequered  warfare  and 
much  intrigue  on  land,  and  of  supreme  dominion  by  sea. 
No  ship  without  a  Portuguese  passport  could  sail  with  per- 
fect safety  over  Indian  waters.  In  many  articles  of  trade 
the  Portuguese  monopoly  was  complete  ;  and  of  what  trade 
was  still  open  to  ships  of  other  countries,  the  Portuguese 
captains  secured  the  lion's  share  by  enforcing  the  right  to 
load  their  own  vessels  first.  If  the  frequent  cruelty  and 
arrogance  of  Portuguese  commanders  earned  them  many 
foes,  their  alliance  was  often  courted  by  neighbours  who 
had  learned  to  dread  their  prowess  in  the  field,  or  to  take 
due  measure  of  the  strength  that  lay  unseen  behind  the 

*  See  Elphinatone's  "India,"  p.  678  (4th  Edition), 
f  The  ladies  of  the  garrison  bore  no  trifling  part  in  the  defence,  and 
their  heroic  example  went  far  to  save  the  place. 


I 


THE    PORTUGUESE   IN   INDIA.  97 

few  ships  and  soldiers  that  guarded  their  factories.  Whe- 
ther from  policy  or  national  instinct,  the  Portuguese  never 
pushed  their  way  far  from  the  sea-coast,  confiniDg  them- 
selves even  at  Goa  to  a  narrow  strip  of  land  between  the 
sea  and  the  Western  Ghats.  So  long  as  their  fleets  ruled 
the  ocean,  nothing  more  was  needed  for  the  maintenance 
of  their  power.  But  the  time  was  soon  to  come  when 
stronger  rivals  pushed  them  from  their  watery  throne, 
and  their  hold  on  India  dwindled  to  a  ruinous  city,  two 
small  decaying  seaports,  Diu  and  Daman,  and  about  1,500 
square  miles  of  ground. 

In  1570,  however,  the  glory  of  Goa  and  the  religious 
bigotry  of  its  priesthood  were  at  their  height,  when  a  great 
league  was  formed  against  it  by  the  princes  of  Bijapur, 
Ahmadnagar,  and  Calicut.  For  ten  months  an  immense 
army  of  horse  and  foot  with  350  guns  besieged  in  vain  a 
city  held  out  by  its  governor,  Don  Louis,  with  about  700 
soldiers,  aided  by  1,300  monks  and  anned  slaves.  Wearied 
at  last  of  a  siege  in  which  he  lost  12,000  men  alone,  be- 
sides thousands  of  horses  and  cattle,  and  hundi-eds  of 
elephants,  the  King  of  Bijapur  withdrew  his  troops  from 
what  seemed  a  hopeless  enterprise.  A  hke  repulse  was  all 
that  Nizam  Shah  of  Ahmadnagar  obtained  fi'om  his  twice- 
attempted  attack  upon  Chaul ;  and  Chale  near  Calicut  was 
defended  with  equal  success  against  the  Zamorin.  For 
the  rest  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  Portuguese  power  in 
India  remained  unshaken. 

But  early  in  the  nest  century  new  rivals  appeared  upon 
the  scene.  In  1604  the  Dutch,  who  had  but  lately  won 
their  independence  of  Spain,  wi-ested  Amboyna  from  the 
Portuguese,  and  even  made  an  attempt  upon  Malacca. 
In  1612  a  small  English  fleet  defeated  with  heavy  loss  the 
Portuguese  squadron  which  strove  to  bar  its  way  into  the 
harbour  of  Surat.  Another  English  fleet  drove  the  Portu- 
guese, in  1622,  from  their  flourishing  settlement  in  the 
isle  of  Ormuz.     Between  the  advances  of  two  such  rivals 

s 


98  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

the  Portuguese  power  in  the  Indian  seas  gradually  de- 
clined, and  the  trade  monopoly  which  the  countrymen  of 
Albuquerque  had  held  for  a  century  passed  into  other  and 
stronger  hands. 


BOOK    III. 

THE   MOGHAL  DYNASTY   OF   BABAR. 


CHAPTER  I. 
bIbae  and  humIyun — 1526-1556. 

With  the  fall  of  Ibrahim,  and  the  rout  of  his  axmy  at 

Panipat,  dates  the  beginning  of  a  new  empire  in  Hindu- 
stan. The  two  great  cities  of  Dehh  and  Agra  speedily 
acknowledged  their  new  master.  But  the  task  before 
Babar  was  stUl  formidable.  The  new  Emperor  of  India 
had  yet  to  make  his  way  through  the  broad  regions  lying 
to  the  south,  east,  and  south-west  of  his  new  capital.  His 
soldiers  and  his  nobles  were  equally  unwilling  to  go  fur- 
ther. Cheered  at  length  by  his  brave  words,  or  shamed 
by  his  earnest  reproaches,  most  of  them  resolved  to  follow 
his  standard,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  months  the  old 
Mussulman  provinces  in  the  valley  of  the  Ganges  had 
nearly  all  submitted  to  his  rule. 

Westward  of  the  Jamua,  however,  a  mighty  force  was 
gathering  against  him,  under  the  powerful  Rana  Sanga, 
the  Rajput  sovereign  of  Mewar.  Followed  by  all  the 
chivalry  of  Marwar  and  Jaipiir,  and  strengthened  by  the 
troops  of  Mahmud,  a  prince  of  the  dispossessed  house  of 
Lodi,  the  great  Rajah  marched  towards  DehH.     At  Sikri,- 

*  Since  called  Fathipur  Sikri. 
H    2 


100  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

not  far  from  Agra,  he  assailed  and  defeated  the  van  of  the 
Moghal  army.  Had  he  only  dared  to  order  a  general 
advance,  the  future  of  India  might  have  been  very  diffe- 
rent, for  a  panic  had  seized  upon  the  bravest  of  Babar's 
troops.  But  the  right  moment  was  lost.  Babar's  stirring 
remonstrances  touched  the  hearts  of  his  officers.  Dropping 
a  few  brave  words  here  and  there  as  he  galloped  along  the 
line  he  had  formed  in  order  of  battle,  the  light-hearted 
Moghal  led  his  troops  against  the  foe.  The  Eajputs 
fought  with  their  usual  courage,  but  nothing  could  with- 
stand the  charge  of  Babar's  veterans.  Kana  Sanga's 
bloody  defeat  left  Kajputana  at  the  victor's  mercy,  and 
cleared  the  way  for  fresh  victories  over  Mahmiid  Lodi, 
who  at  length,  with  the  shattered  remnants  of  his  army, 
retired  beyond  the  Son. 

Next  year  Babar  attacked  and  stormed  Chanderi,  the 
capital  of  a  small  Rajput  kingdom  carved  by  Medni  Rai 
out  of  the  lands  he  had  wrested  from  the  kings  of  Malwa. 
Once  more  Rajput  heroism,  hopeless  of  victory,  preferred 
speedy  death  to  the  tender  mercies  of  Mohammadan  rule. 
As  the  Moghal  troops  were  storming  the  city,  the  garrison 
slew  all  their  women,  and  then  rushed  upon  the  foe  to  die. 
Chanderi  captured,  the  fiery  Moghal  darted  across  the 
Ganges  into  Audh,  drove  the  Afghans  before  him  in  all 
directions,  and  ere  long  added  Bahar  also  to  his  sway. 
The  Sultan  of  Bengal  was  glad  to  sue  for  peace  on  terms 
which  included  the  surrender  of  North  Bahar. 

By  this  time  Babar's  health  was  fast  breaking  under  the 
heavy  strain  of  so  many  and  prolonged  exertions.  His 
end  was  probably  hastened  by  anxiety  for  his  beloved  son, 
Humayun,  who  now  lay  dangerously  ill  at  Agra.  With 
pardonable  superstition,  the  war-worn  fiither,  walking  thrice 
round  his  son's  bed,  solemnly  besought  Heaven  to  spare 
Humayun,  and  take  himself  instead.  "  I  have  borne  it 
away  !  I  have  home  it  away  !  '*  were  the  joyful  words  that 
presently  escaped  him.     From  that  moment,  say  the  his- 


I 


BABAE    AND    HUIIAYUN.  101 

torians,  the  son  began  to  recover,  and  the  father  to  decline. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  it  was  Babar's  own  conviction  that  he 
would  shortly  die  ;  and  it  is  certain  that  he  met  his  end 
as  cheerfully  as  he  had  battled  through  the  darkest  trials 
of  his  stormy  life.  After  a  few  last  words  of  wise  and 
loving  counsel  to  his  sons  and  ministers,  he  died  at  Agra, 
in  December,  1530,  at  the  age  of  forty-nine. 

The  best  picture  of  the  great  Moghal  is  that  which  he 
himself  has  drawn  for  us  in  his  own  dehghtful  memoirs, 
replete  with  every  charm  of  a  frank,  genial,  yet  manly 
nature,  and  a  weU-stored,  inquiring  mind.  At  once  a  poet, 
scholar,  and  musician,  he  had  all  the  qualities  which  those 
words  imply,  mixed  up  with  the  tougher  tissues  that  go  to 
the  making  of  the  adventurous  soldier  and  the  hard-headed 
statesman.  In  a  straightforward,  hvely,  picturesque  style, 
perfectly  natural,  yet  never  coarse  nor  inflated,  he  tells  or 
suggests  to  us  everything  he  did,  saw,  or  suffered ;  how 
he  wept  for  his  boyish  playfellow ;  how  fond  an  interest 
he  took  in  his  mother  and  near  kindred  ;  how  keen  were 
his  sympathies  alike  with  the  pleasures  and  the  misfortunes 
of  his  fi-iends  ;  how  lightly  he  bore  his  own  reverses,  riding 
a  race  with  the  only  two  friends  who  followed  him,  a  house- 
less, half-starved  wanderer,  on  his  dreary  journey  from 
Samarkhand.  With  equal  ease  and  hghtness  of  touch,  he 
describes  the  hardships  he  underwent,  the  bursts  of  revelry 
in  which  he  and  his  companions  not  seldom  indulged  ;  the 
scenery,  climate,  people,  and  products  of  the  countries  he 
passed  through  ;  the  sayings  and  doings  of  his  friends ; 
his  own  successes,  failures,  and  weaknesses  ;  the  sense  of 
loneliness  that  came  over  him  as  he  ate  a  musk-melon 
brought  from  Kabul.  Violent  sometimes,  and  cruel  when 
the  fit  was  on  him,  he  endeared  himself  to  his  friends  and 
followers  by  many  kindly  actions,  and  treated  his  enemies 
on  the  whole  with  wonderful  forbearance.  His  high  courage 
never  failed  him,  and  his  buoyant  spuit  nothing  seemed  to 
puU  down.     Fond  of  wine,  and  given  to  hard  drinking,  he 


102  HISTOBY    OF    INDIA. 

eschewed  both  in  his  latter  years.  No  small  part  of  his 
leisure  hours  was  bestowed  on  public  business,  and  his 
active  habits  were  equally  conspicuous  in  the  camp,  the 
council-room,  and  the  hunting-field.  In  his  last  journey 
of  160  miles  from  Kalpi  to  Agra,  in  spite  of  failing  health, 
he  rode  the  distance  in  two  days,  and  swam  twice  across 
the  Ganges.  Not  content  with  the  regular  business  of  the 
state,  his  mind  was  always  full  of  schemes  for  the  public 
welfare,  from  the  building  of  reservoirs  and  aqueducts  to 
the  introduction  of  new  trade-products  from  abroad.  No 
wonder  that  the  memory  of  a  king  so  lovable  and  so  richly 
endowed  should  be  cherished  by  the  Mohammadans  of 
India  beyond  that  of  all  other  princes,  save  Akbar,  of  the 
same  gi-eat  line. 

Humayun,  heir  to  his  father's  Indian  throne,  seems  to 
have  inherited  something  of  his  father's  chequered  for- 
tunes. Much  against  his  own  will,  he  weakened  his  empire 
by  handing  Kabul  and  the  Panjab  over  to  his  brother, 
Kamran.  To  another  of  his  brethren  he  assigned  the 
province  of  Sambal  or  Rohilkhand,  while  a  third  was  ap- 
pointed Governor  of  Mewat,  La  Rajputana.  The  first  two 
years  of.  his  reign  were  employed  in  quelling  revolts  in 
Bundalkhand,  Jaunpiir,  and  Bahar.  Then  began  a  quarrel 
with  Bahadur  Shah  of  Gujarat,  who  had  given  shelter  to 
Humayun's  brother-in-law,  and  furnished  the  uncle  of  the 
last  Pathan  king  of  Dehli  with  the  means  of  waging  war 
against  the  new  dynasty.  Defeated  at  Mandisor,  and 
driven  from  place  to  place,  the  once  powerful  king  of 
Gujarat  foimd  shelter  at  Diu,  in  the  farthest  comer  of  his 
realm. 

Humayun's  success  was  crowned  by  his  daring  capture 
of  Champaner,  seated  on  a  lofty  rock,  up  whose  steep  side 
he  and  300  of  his  chosen  followers  clomb  with  the  help  of 
steel  spikes.  Leaving  his  brother,  Mirza  Askai-i,  in  charge 
of  his  new  conquests,  Humayun  marched  back  to  Agra,  in 
order  to  deal  with  a  new  rebellion  got  up  by  Shir  Khan, 


EABAK    AND    HUMAYUN.  103 

an  Afghan  noble,  who  had  ah-eady  made  himself  master  of 
Bahar,  and  begun  the  conquest  of  Bengal.  The  strong 
fort  of  Chunar  on  the  Ganges  taken  after  a  stout  defence, 
the  Moghal  monarch  pushed  on  to  Gaur,  the  capital  of 
Bengal.  Here,  however,  his  troops  were  sadly  thinned  by 
sickness,  consequent  on  the  heavy  rains  and  floods  of  an 
Indian  monsoon.*  In  spite  of  the  weather,  his  Afghan 
foe  made  his  way  up  to  Jaunpur,  and  threatened  to  cut 
off  Humayun's  retreat.  Leaving  garrisons  in  his  new 
conquests,  Humayun  at  length  began  his  homeward 
march. 

Once  more,  however.  Shir  Khan's  skilful  strategy 
turned  his  resources  to  their  best  account.  After  defeat- 
ing a  strong  Moghal  force  at  Monghir,  he  suddenly  fell 
about  daybreak  on  Humayun's  army  encamped  near 
Baxar,  on  the  road  to  Banaras,  routed  it  with  heavy 
slaughter,  and  drove  its  leader,  with  the  shattered  remnant 
of  his  host,  in  wild  flight  across  the  Ganges.  Humayun 
himself  barely  escaped  drowning,  his  empress  was  taken 
prisoner,  and  the  bulk  of  his  best  troops  perished  by  the 
sword  or  in  the  river. 

A  like  disaster  befell  him  in  the  following  year  not  far 
from  Kanauj,  where  with  fresh  troops  recruited  from 
Kabul  and  Labor  he  was  again  surprised  by  the  same 
bold  and  crafty  assailant.  From  this  last  crushing  blow  it 
took  him  many  years  to  recover.  Under  the  name  of 
Shir  Shah  the  victorious  Afghan  seated  himself  on  the 
throne  of  Dehli,  which  he  and  his  successors  held  for 
about  sixteen  years.  While  Humayun,  with  a  few  faithful 
followers,  was  roaming  perilously  from  place  to  place,  from 
province  to  province,  in  vain  quest  of  help,  now  from  his 
brother  Kamran  at  Labor,  anon  from  the  rulers  of  Marwar 
and  Sindh,  Shir  Shah  was  bringing  province  after  province 
in  Upper  India  under  his  sway,  driving  Kamran  out  of  the 

*  The  rainy  season  in  Bengal  lasts  from  June  to  the  end  of  Sep- 
tember. 


104  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Panjilb,  overrunning  Eajputana,  and  wresting  Chitnr  from 
the  discomfited  Rajah  of  Mewar. 

His  death  before  Kalinjar  in  the  hour  of  victory  trans- 
ferred the  crown  to  his  second  son  Selim  Shah,  who,  sup- 
planting his  feeble  elder  brother,  reigned  in  peace  for 
about  nine  years,  and,  Hke  his  able  father,  did  much  for  the 
internal  improvement  of  his  dominions.*  He  was  suc- 
ceeded in  1553  by  his  brother  Mohammad  Shah,  who 
secured  his  power  by  the  murder  of  his  child  nephew,  and 
lost  half  bis  dominions  through  successful  revolts  in  the 
coiu'se  of  bis  three  years'  reign. 

By  this  time  fortune,  tired  of  persecuting  the  eldest  son 
of  Babar,  opened  the  way  for  his  triumphant  return  to 
India  and  his  father's  throne.  The  first  five  years  of 
Humayun's  exile  had  been  a  time  of  perilous  adventures, 
cruel  hardships,  and  hairbreadth  escapes.  Driven  from 
Labor  by  his  brother's  self-seeking  policy,  he  had  fled  to 
Sindh  for  the  aid  he  was  not  to  find  there.  Crossing  the 
desert  to  Jodpiir  with  his  household  and  a  few  followers, 
many  of  whom  died  of  thirst  and  weariness  by  the  way,  he 
fared  no  better  than  before  at  the  hands  of  a  Hindu  Rajah, 
who  had  more  reason  to  hate  than  help  him.  Thrown 
once  more  upon  the  dreary  desert,  with  enemies  behind 
him  and  before,  each  day's  march  bringing  its  own  hard- 
ships, each  halt  a  fresh  fight  for  water  with  the  unfriendly 
villagers,  he  lost  all  hope  when  the  horsemen  of  Marwai-, 
led  by  the  son  of  their  Rajah,  closed  in  upon  his  small 
band.  But  Rajput  chivalry  still  spared  the  helpless. 
Reproaching  Humayun  for  entering  the  Rajput  country 
without  leave,  and  for  slaying  the  cattle  which  the  Hindus 
held  sacred,  the  son  of  the  Rajah  supplied  the  fugitives 
with  food  and  water,  and  bade  them  depart  in  peace.  A 
few  more  days  of  wandering  in  the  sandy  desert  brought 
Humayun's  diminished  band  to  Amerkot  on  the  borders  of 

*  The  stem-looking  Pathan  fort  of  Seli'mgarh  at  Dehli  still  bears  his 
name,  and  was  probably  built  in  his  reign. 


I 


BABAR    AND    HBMAYUN.  105 

Sindh,  where  they  found  rest  and  a  kindly  welcome  from 
its  Hindn  chieftain,  Rana  Parsad.  Here  it  was  that 
Humayun's  beloved  Hamida  gave  birth,  in  October,  1542, 
to  the  son,  who  afterwards  became  the  glory  of  India 
under  the  Moghals. 

With  the  help  of  bis  new  friend,  Humayun  marched 
into  Sindh,  and  was  making  his  way  there  against  his  old 
enemy,  Husen  Arghiin,  when  Kana  Parsad,  fired  by  some 
real  or  fancied  affront,  left  the  camp  with  aU  his  followers  ; 
and  Humayun  compounded  with  adverse  fortune  by  re- 
tiring in  1543  towards  Kandahar.  Into  that  city  his  wife 
and  child  were  admitted  by  his  brother,  Mirza  Askari; 
but  Humayun  himself  gained  no  rest  from  wandering  until 
he  found  an  asylum  at  Herat,  then  held  by  the  Shah  of 
Persia,  who  treated  him  on  the  whole  with  great,  though 
fitful  munificence,  and  agreed  to  aid  him  in  wresting 
Kabul  from  his  brother  Kamran,  on  condition  of  his  em- 
bracing the  Shia  tenets  of  Islam,  and  ceding  Kandahar  to 
his  Persian  ally. 

These  terms  accepted,  the  royal  exile  set  forth  on  his 
appointed  task  with  a  few  hundi-ed  of  bis  own  adherents, 
aided  by  14,000  Persian  horse.  In  the  autumn  of  1545 
Kandahar  surrendered  ;  but  with  the  treachery  of  his  race 
Humayun  took  the  first  tempting  occasion  to  turn  out  the 
Persian  garrison  and  replace  them  by  his  own  troops. 
Kabul,  which  he  took  at  the  beginning  of  that  winter  and 
lost  again  during  his  absence  in  Badakshan,  was  recap- 
tured in  the  spring  of  the  year  1547. 

His  hold  upon  the  country  was  still,  however,  uncertain. 
A  reconcOiation  between  the  four  sons  of  Babar  was  ere 
long  stultified  by  a  fresh  revolt  on  Kamran's  part ;  fresh 
mishaps  awaited  the  much-enduring  Humayun  ;  and  not 
till  1551  did  he  find  himself  once  more  master  of  Kabul 
and  the  surrounding  country.  Chased  from  one  shelter  to 
another,  Kamran  was  at  length  betrayed  into  the  hands  of 
his  long-suffering  brother,  who  commuted  with  the  loss  of 


lOG  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

his  eyes  the  death- sentence  awarded  hy  the  Moghal  officers 
of  state.* 

Humaj-un's  thoughts  still  turned  to  the  scene  of  his 
early  greatness  and  his  father's  renown.  The  new  Pathan 
empire  was  already  breaking  up,  but  years  of  peril  had 
taught  him  caution.  Superstition,  however,  came  to  the 
aid  of  his  natm-al  restlessness  ;  encouraging  omens  bade 
him  venture  on  the  path  to  which  many  friends  and  many 
circumstances  were  already  inviting  him.  At  length,  in 
December,  1554,  he  marched  from  Kabul,  made  his  way 
to  Labor,  inflicted  a  crushing  defeat  on  Sikandar  Shah  at 
Sirhind,f  and  once  more  entered  the  gates  of  Dehli  in  July, 
1555,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  sixteen  years. 

He  was  not,  however,  to  enjoy  his  new-found  throne  for 
long.  About  six  months  afterwards,  he  was  going  down 
the  stairs  outside  the  terrace  of  his  library,  when  the  cry 
to  prayer  reached  him  from  the  nearest  minaret.  After 
praying  like  a  good  Mussulman  on  the  spot,  he  was  rising 
with  the  help  of  his  stafl',  when  it  slipped  on  the  smooth 
marble  of  the  steps,  and  the  king  fell  headlong  over  the 
low  parapet.  On  the  25th  Januaiy,  four  days  after  his 
fall,  the  brave  but  unlucky  son  of  Babar  breathed  his  last, 
in  the  forty-ninth  year  of  his  age,  after  a  career  at  least  as 
stormy  as  his  father's,  set  off  by  many  of  his  father's 
noblest  and  most  endeaiing,  as  well  as  some  of  his  weaker 
traits. 

*  The  "  Memoirs "  quoted  by  Elph  in  stone,  book  vii.  chap.  4,  say 
nothing  of  the  previous  sentence,  but  would  lead  us  to  regard  the 
blinding  of  Kamran  as  an  act  of  needless  cruelty  on  Hnmayun'a  part. 
That,  however,  seems  to  be  an  unfair  view  of  Humayun's  character. 

t  Young  Akbar,  then  but  twelve  years  old,  was  in  the  thickest  of 
the  fight.    Sikandar  was  a  nephew  of  the  great  Shir  Shah. 


I 


107 


CHAPTER  n. 

JALAL-UD-DIN  ASBAH,   1556 1605. 

The  throne  to  which  Akbar  succeeded  in  his  fourteenth 
year  was  very  different  from  that  which  he  handed  down 
to  his  successors.  Enemies,  open  or  secret,  were  plotting 
or  rising  against  him  on  every  side.  He  had  hardly  sent 
Sikandar  Shah  once  more  flying  to  the  mountains,  and 
despatched  some  of  his  troops  to  the  help  of  his  ministers 
in  Kabul,  when  Hemu,  the  Hindu  general  who  stiU  fought 
for  Mohammad  Shah,  the  last  king  of  Shir  Shah's  line, 
advancing  from  Bengal,  captured  Agra,  occupied  Dehli, 
and  encamped  on  the  fatal  field  of  Panipat.  It  was  a 
trying  moment  for  the  new  dynasty  when  Akbar's  general, 
Behram  Khan,  resolved,  with  the  young  king's  willing 
sanction,  to  stake  the  hopes  of  the  Moghals  on  the  issue 
of  a  battle  against  tremendous  odds.  On  the  morning  of 
the  5th  November,  1556,  the  fight  began  which  ended  in 
the  utter  rout  of  Hemu's  army  and  the  capture  of  its 
brave  leader,  badly  wounded.  Urged  by  Behram  Khan 
to  win  the  title  of  "  Ghazi  " — Champion  of  the  Faith — 
by  slaying  the  captive  with  his  own  sword,  the  generous 
Akbar  refused  to  strike  a  wounded  foe,  and  the  fatal 
stroke  was  dealt  by  Behram  himself. 

A  campaign  in  the  Panjab  ended  in  the  final  surrender 
of  Sikandar  Shah,  who  retired  to  Bengal,  where  the 
Pathans  still  held  their  ground.  For  the  next  three  years 
the  government  of  Dehli  was  wielded  by  the  able  but  too 
imperious  Behi-am,  some  of  whose  actions  galled  the  pride 
and  imperilled  the  authority  of  his  young  master.     At 


108  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

length,  in  1560,  Akbar  by  a  sudden  eflfort  took  the  reins 
of  state  into  his  own  hands,  and  the  unseated  minister  pre- 
sently went  into  rebellion,  in  hopes  of  carving  out  a  sepa- 
rate kingdom  for  himself.  Foiled,  however,  by  Akbar's 
promptitude,  he  had  to  throw  himself  on  his  sovereign's 
mercy.  His  prayers  for  pardon  were  heard  by  a  prince 
who  forgot  his  late  offences  in  remembrance  of  his  former 
great  deeds.  Raising  the  suppliant  with  his  own  hand, 
Akbar  placed  him  by  his  side,  and  bade  him  choose 
between  high  oiSce  at  court  or  elsewhere  and  an  honour- 
able retreat  to  Mecca.  Behram  chose  the  latter,  but  was 
stabbed  on  his  way  through  Gujarat  by  an  Afghan  whose 
father  he  had  slain  in  battle. 

For  many  years  to  come  Akbar's  throne  was  anything 
but  a  bed  of  roses.  He  had  stUl  to  reconquer  the  greater 
part  of  India,  to  control  his  unruly  nobles,  to  win  the 
goodwill  or  break  the  power  of  formidable  Hindu  and 
Mohammadan  princes,  to  restore  order  and  well-being 
throughout  his  dominions,  to  lay  anew,  in  short,  the  foun- 
dations of  a  great  and  lasting  empire.  His  own  country- 
men were  mere  strangers  in  the  land,  compared  with  the 
Pathans,  who  had  been  taking  root  there  for  three  centuries 
past,  and  who,  like  the  Norman  settlers  in  Ireland,  had 
lost  many  of  their  distinctive  features  by  close  and  con- 
tinual contact  with  surrounding  races.  It  was  Akbar's 
chief  glory  that  he  saw  clearly  what  he  had  to  do  as  a 
wise  ruler  of  a  distracted  coimtry,  and  did  it  steadily  with 
all  his  might.  Through  all  the  warfare  of  his  long  reign 
he  acted  on  the  principle  of  treating  his  enemies  as  though 
they  might  become  his  friends,  and  this  far-seeing  policy 
was  justified  by  almost  unvarying  success.  His  highest 
aim  was  to  unite  all  classes,  creeds,  and  races  in  India 
under  one  mild  equitable  rule  ;  and  his  achievements  in 
that  direction  have  been  rivalled  by  very  few  piinces  in 
any  age  or  country. 

In  the  first  four  years  of  his  reign,  Akbar  extended  his 


JALAL-UD-DIN    AKBAR.  109 

conquests  over  Ajmir,  Gwalior,  Audli,  and  Jaimpur.  In 
1561  Malwa  was  wrested  from  the  Afghans  by  Abdullah 
Khan,  an  Uzbek  leader,  who  afterwards  sought  to  keep 
the  province  for  himself.  Akbar  was  not  long  in  march- 
ing against  the  rebel,  who  fled  to  Gujarat.  The  tui-bulence 
of  commanders  who  tried  to  retain  the  government,  or,  at 
least,  the  plunder  of  the  provinces  they  helped  to  win, 
would  have  reduced  their  young  sovereign  to  a  mere 
puppet,  but  for  his  boldness  in  dealing  with  so  common  a 
danger  to  the  Mobammadan  power.  Zeman  Khan,  the 
conqueror  of  Jaunpiir,  had  once  already  succumbed  to 
Akbar's  resolute  bearing  ;  but  now  he  joined  with  the  dis- 
affected Uzbek  lords  in  Mulwa  in  leading  a  formidable 
revolt,  which  Akbar,  with  hands  full  of  other  annoyances, 
could  not  for  several  years  succeed  in  quelling.  While 
the  emperor  was  chasing  his  disloyal  brother  Hakim  out 
of  the  Panjab,  the  Uzbek  rebels  pushed  their  way  into 
Audh  and  Allahabad.  But  Akbar's  daiing  strategy  served 
him  well  on  this  as  on  many  another  occasion.  By  a 
swift  and  sudden  march,  with  only  2,000  men  he  swooped 
down  upon  the  rebel  camp  across  the  Ganges,  slew  or 
captured  several  of  their  leaders,  and  drove  the  scared 
troops  before  him  in  wild  disorder.  They  never  rallied 
again,  and  thus  a  revolt  which  had  made  head  against  his 
best  generals,  was  quelled  at  last  by  the  brilliant  energy  of 
Akbar  himself. 

His  arms  were  next  turned  against  Chitor,  whose  Eajah, 
a  son  of  the  great  Rana  Sanga,  retired  into  the  hills, 
leaving  behind  him  a  picked  garrison  of  8,000  men.  The 
siege  of  the  fortress-city  was  carried  on  with  patient  skill  by 
means  of  regular  zigzags  and  well-laid  mines.  But  the 
defence  was  equally  stubborn,  and  not  tiU  their  brave  and 
skdlfol  leader,  Jai  Mai,  had  fallen  by  a  well-aimed  shot  from 
Akbar's  own  bow  did  the  garrison  lose  heart.  Then,  with 
the  usual  wild  courage  of  their  race,  they  slew  their  women, 
and  rushed  out  to  meet  their  own  fate  from  the  Mussulmans 


110  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

who  had  already  mounted  the  breaches.  They  perished 
nearly  to  a  man,  and  the  fall  of  their  famous  stronghold  sent 
a  shiver  of  dismay  through  all  Rajasthan.  Udi  Singh  him- 
self remained  untouched  in  his  native  wilds ;  but  the  hiU-forts 
of  Rantambor  and  Kalinjar  ere  long  fell  to  Akbar's  arms, 
several  of  the  foremost  Rajput  princes  tendered  their  alle- 
giance to  the  new  power,  and  a  few  of  them  afterwards 
rendered  it  loyal  service  as  soldiers,  statesmen,  or  governors 
of  important  provinces.  Princesses  of  the  purest  Rajput 
blood  had  already  begun  to  enter  the  Imperial  household 
as  wives  of  Akbar,  his  sons,  and  kinsmen.*  It  is  stiU  the 
boast  of  the  Ranas  of  Udaipiir — the  city  founded  by  the 
son  of  Udi  Singh  some  years  after  the  capture  of  Chitor 
— that  the  ladies  of  their  house  alone  have  never  stooped 
to  intermarry  with  the  kings  of  Dehli. 

Akbar's  merciful  treatment  of  the  Hindus  bore  good 
fruit  in  his  subsequent  warfare  against  his  cousins  and 
their  allies  in  Gujarat.  In  1572  the  last  king  of  that 
country  had  made  him  a  formal  tender  of  his  crown,  and 
Akbar  at  once  proceeded  to  make  himself  master  of  his 
new  kingdom.  In  one  of  his  rapid  marches  he  found  him- 
self with  only  156  men  in  front  of  1,000  of  the  enemy. 
But  his  little  band  included  the  Rajah  of  Jaipur  and  his 
nephew  Man  Singh,  and  their  steadfast  courage  not  only 
saved  his  life,  but  enabled  him  also  to  beat  off  and  scatter 
his  assailants.  One  of  his  rebel  cousins  was  afterwards 
routed  by  Rajah  Rai  Singh  of  Marwar. 

Hardly  had  Al^bar  returned  to  Agra  from  the  conquest 
of  Gujarat,  when  his  cousin  Mirza  Husen  once  more  defied 
him  to  the  issue  of  battle.  With  a  force  of  about  3,000 
picked  men  the  prompt  Moghal  marched  more  than  450 
miles  in  nine  days,  and  suddenly  confronted  the  insurgent 
troops  near  Ahmadabad.     In  a  succession  of  bold  charges 

*  Akbar  had  married  two  queens  from  the  houses  of  Jaipur  and 
Marwar,  and  a  princess  of  Jaipur  was  already  married  to  his  eldest 
son. 


JALAL  UD-DrS    AKBAR.  Ill 

he  swept  through  and  through  the  astonished  foe  ;  a  suc- 
cessful sally  £i-om  the  city  crowned  his  own  efforts,  and  the 
siege  of  Ahniadabad  was  raised.  Peace  restored  to  the 
country,  he  again  returned  to  Agra,  the  capital  of  his 
choice. 

Two  years  afterwards  he  had  entered  upon  the  harder 
work  of  reconquering  Bengal  and  the  rest  of  Bahar  from 
the  Pathans,  whose  ruler,  Daud  Khan,  had  never  paid  his 
promised  tribute  to  the  Moghals.  Before  Akbar's  steady 
advance  Daud  retired  into  Orissa,  where  he  held  his 
ground  for  a  time  against  Akbar's  generals,  including  the 
renowned  Todar  Mai,  his  Hindu  Minister  of  Finance. 
Driven  at  length  into  a  comer,  he  made  peace  on  condi- 
tion of  retaining  Orissa  for  himself.  In  a  few  months, 
however,  he  was  again  tempted  to  try  his  fortune  with 
Akbar ;  but  his  defeat  and  death  in  a  pitched  battle  with 
the  Moghal  troops  ensured  the  overthrow  of  the  Afghan 
power  in  Bengal  and  Bahar.  It  was  not,  however,  until 
three  years  later  that  these  new  conquests  were  brought 
into  perfect  order,  after  Todar  Mai  and  his  successor  had 
put  down  a  formidable  rising  among  Akbar's  own  troops  ; 
and  not  tUl  1592  was  the  Afghan  power  in  Orissa  finally 
broken  by  Man  Singh. 

Meanwhile  Akbar  himself  had  had  to  deal  with  his  rest- 
less brother  Mirza  Hakim,  who  in  1581  invaded  the 
Panjab  from  Kabul,  and  drove  the  governor,  Man  Singh, 
into  Labor.  After  chasing  him  back  to  Kabul,  and  thence 
into  the  mountains,  Akbar,  with  his  usual  nobleness,  for- 
gave his  brother's  offences,  and  left  him  in  charge  of 
Kabul  untU  his  death.  This  generous  pohcy,  however, 
was  not  always  equally  successful.  At  this  very  time  the 
late  king  of  Gujarat,  Mozaffar  Shah,  on  whom  Akbar  had 
bestowed  a  jagir,  or  feudal  estate,  started  a  new  insur- 
rection in  his  former  kingdom.  Driven  out  of  the  inland 
provinces,  Mozaffar  still  held  his  ground  in  Katiawar  for  a 
few  years  longer,  until  in  1593  he  was  given  up  to  the 


112 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


Imperial  commanders,  and  slew  himself  on  his  way  to  the 
Emperor's  court. 

Master  of  Kabul,  Akbar  ere  long  set  himself  to  conquer 
Kashmir.  The  invading  aimy  made  its  way  in  1587  to 
Srinagar,  the  capital ;  and  the  king,  on  making  his  sub- 
mission, was  compensated  with  a  noble  jagir  in  Bahar. 

Meanwhile   Akbar's   generals  were  engaged  in   a  vain 


SRlXAGAlt,    CAPITAL    OF    KASHMIR. 


attempt  to  subdue  the  lawless  mountaineers  of  Swat  and 
the  Khaibar.  In  1586  the  Moghal  troops  got  hopelessly 
entangled  among  the  rugged  hills  and  gorges  of  Swat ;  the 
Rajah  BirBal's  division  perished  nearly  to  a  man  under  the 
swords  of  the  daring  Yusufzais ;  and  his  colleague  Zain 
Khan  was  driven  back  with  heavy  loss  to  Atak,  where 
Akbar  had  lately  built  the  fort  that  still  overlooks  the 
Indus.    Fresh  troops  sent  into  the  mountains  under  Todar 


JALAL-CD-DIN    AKBAK.  113 

Mai  and  Man  Singh  made  some  impression  upon  the  foe 
by  cutting  oflf  supplies  and  establishing  a  chain  of  strong 
posts  in  commanding  positions.  But  the  Yusufzais  were 
never  thoroughly  subdued,  and  the  legacy  of  trouble  which 
Akbar  bequeathed  to  his  successors  has  not  yet  been  ex- 
hausted even  under  the  British  rule. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Kandahar  and  Sindh  were 
annexed  to  Akbar's  dominions ;  *  the  one  conquest  com- 
pleting the  range  of  his  old  hereditary  possessions,  the 
other  leaving  him  undisputed  master  of  all  India  north- 
waxd  of  the  Narbadha,  save  perhaps  the  tract  of  country 
stm  held  against  him  by  the  Rana  of  Udaipiir. 

Akbar's  hopes  were  now  turned  to  the  Dakhan,  whither 
a  way  for  his  arms  seemed  to  open  itself  in  the  offer  made 
him  by  one  of  the  rival  claimants  to  the  throne  of  Ahmad- 
nagar.  His  troops  marched  upon  the  capital,  but  the 
brave  woman  Chand  Bibi,  who  held  it  for  her  child-nephew, 
maintained  a  defence  so  stout  and  heroic,  that,  after  more 
than  one  attempt  to  storm  the  city,  Prince  Morad  was  fain 
to  let  her  alone  on  condition  of  being  allowed  to  occupy 
Berar. 

A  few  months  later  war  was  renewed.  Chand  Bibi  had 
fallen  into  the  power  of  her  own  minister,  who  forced  her, 
in  spite  of  the  late  treaty,  to  enter  into  a  league  with  the 
other  princes  of  the  Dakhan.  Early  in  the  next  year 
Prince  Morad  encountered  the  allies  at  Sonpat  on  the 
Godavari.  A  furious  battle,  which  lasted  two  days,  led  to 
no  more  tangible  issue  than  a  protracted  quarrel  between 
the  Moghal  prince  and  his  colleagues  in  command.  At 
length  Akbar  himself  resolved  to  interfere  in  person. 
Leaving  the  Panjab,  where  he  had  long  been  staying,  he 
reached  the  Narbadha  in  1599,  and  sent  an  army  to  renew 
the  siege  of  Ahmadnagar.  In  spite  of  the  murder  of  the 
brave  Chand  Bibi  by  the  agents  of  a  hostile  faction,  in  the 

*  In  his  w.ir  against  Akbar  the  chief  of  Sindh  employed  Portnguese 
soldiers  and  native  Sipuhis,  dressed  as  Enropeans. 

I 


114  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

midst  of  her  efforts  to  treat  for  peace,  the  Moghals  soon 
stormed  the  place  with  heavy  slaughter ;  the  young  king 
was  sent  prisoner  to  Gwalior,  and  the  final  conquest  of 
the  whole  kingdom  might  have  heen  forestalled  by  many 
years  had  Akbar's  return  homeward  not  been  hastened  by 
unforeseen  events.  As  it  was,  however,  he  stayed  in  the 
Dakhan  long  enough  to  complete  the  conquest  of  Khandesh, 
to  betroth  one  of  his  sons  to  a  princess  of  Bijapur,  and  to 
cripple  beyond  recovery  the  power  of  the  Abmadnagar 
kingdom. 

The  cause  of  his  sudden  return  to  Hindustan  was  the 
revolt  of  his  eldest  son  Selim,  who,  left  in  charge  of  the 
home  government,  took  advantage  of  his  father's  absence 
to  seize  upon  Audh  and  Bahar,  plunder  the  treasury  at 
Allahabad,  and  proclaim  himself  a  king.  Cruel,  violent, 
and  revengeful,  he  had  already,  at  thirty  years  of  age, 
impaired  his  great  mental  powers  and  heightened  his  worst 
traits  by  hard  drinking  and  excess  of  opium.  Akbar,  in 
terms  of  fatherly  loving-kindness,  entreated  him  to  forego 
his  unfilial  projects,  and  all  would  be  forgiven.  In  the 
very  midst  of  their  negotiations  Selim  was  plotting  the 
death  of  Abul  Fazl,  one  of  Akbar's  most  trusted  friends 
and  oificers,  and  the  chief  historian  of  his  reign.  In 
happy  ignorance  of  his  son's  share  in  the  murder  of  so 
dear  a  friend,  Akbar  renewed  his  offers  of  reconcDiation, 
and  Selim,  returning  to  a  show  of  duty,  took  up  his  abode 
at  Allahabad. 

Fresh  quarrels,  the  fruit  of  fresh  excesses  on  Selim's 
part,  were  hardly  appeased  when  Akbar,  who  had  akeady 
lost  his  son  Morad  fi'om  illness,  had  to  mom-n  the  death 
of  his  third  son.  Prince  Danial,  from  chronic  drunkenness. 
All  these  things  preyed  upon  his  own  failing  health,  and 
his  dying  hom-s  were  further  embittered  by  the  intrigues 
of  opposing  factions  at  his  court.  Plans  were  formed  for 
setting  the  unpopular  Selim  aside  in  favour  of  his  eldest 
son  Khusrii,  the  child  of  his  Kajput  wife.     Akbai-'s  in- 


JAIAL-TJD-DIN    AEBAB.  115 

fluence,  however,  asserted  itself  in  the  jaws  of  death.  The 
plot  came  to  nothing ;  and  in  the  presence  of  his  weeping 
son  and  reconciled  nobles,  the  dying  king  murmured  his 
last  injunctions  to  peace,  goodwill,  and  loyal  discharge  of 
duties  on  the  part  of  each  and  all  there  assembled.  En- 
treating the  forgiveness  of  any  whom  he  might  have 
offended,  and  commending  to  his  son's  care  his  own  friends 
and  the  ladies  of  his  household,  Babar's  glorious  grandson 
ere  long  passed  away  amidst  the  prayers  of  his  chief 
Mullah,  on  the  last  day  of  his  sisty-thhd  year,  in  the  fifty- 
second  year  of  a  reign  which  began  two  years  before  and 
ended  two  years  after  that  of  our  own  Elizabeth. 

He  died  in  outward  seeming  a  better  Mussulman  than  he 
had  hved.  His  early  devotion  to  the  faith  of  Islam  had 
long  since  yielded  to  a  spirit  of  philosophical  inquii-y  and 
large-hearted  tolerance  for  all  kinds  of  worship,  as  ex- 
pressions of  human  yearning  towards  a  common  God. 
The  same  generous  instinct  which  shrank  from  slaying  the 
captive  Hemu  afterwards  led  him,  in  the  teeth  of  the 
prevailing  bigotry,  to  show  equal  courtesy  to  men  of  every 
creed,  and  to  encourage  Christian  priests  and  Brahman 
pandits  in  holding  free  discussion  with  the  learned  doctors 
of  Islam.  The  Christians  he  treated  with  marked  respect, 
paying  reverence  even  to  images  of  Christ  and  the  Virgin 
Mary,  and  allowing  his  son  Morad  to  study  the  Christian 
Gospels.  His  innate  piety,  guided  by  a  powerful  intellect, 
a  tender  heart,  and  a  romantic  sense  of  justice,  taught  him 
to  see  good  in  forms  of  worship  the  most  diverse,  and  to 
eschew  the  persecuting  habits  so  dear  to  well-meaning 
zealots  of  every  creed.  In  his  hands  the  sword  of  Mahomet 
became  a  sceptre  of  upright  and  merciful  dealing  with 
all  whom  circumstances  placed  under  his  power. 

In  accordance  with  his  love  of  evenhanded  justice,  he 

annulled  all  legal  sanctions  even  for  practices  ordered  by 

the  Koran.     No  man  was  any  longer  forced  by  law  to  fast, 

attend  pubKc  worship,  go  on  pilgrimage,  or  abstain  from 

i2 


116  HISTORT    OF    INDIA. 

■wine  and  unclean  meats  ;  and  the  rite  of  circumcision  was 
put  oif  till  the  age  of  twelve,  in  order  that  the  young 
believer  might  be  free  in  a  measure  to  choose  his  religion 
for  himself.  In  the  same  spirit  he  forbade  the  burning  of 
Hindu  widows  against  their  wUl,  the  marriage  of  Hindu 
children  before  a  fit  age,  and  the  Hindu  practice  of  trial 
by  ordeal.*  The  latest  efforts  of  English  legislation  in 
India  were  forestalled  by  a  decree  allowing  Hindu  widows 
to  marry  again.  All  taxes  on  pilgrims,  temples,  religious 
rites,  and  the  hateful  Jiziya  or  poll-tax  so  long  exacted 
from  the  conquered  Hindus  were  done  away,  and  a  stop 
was  put  to  the  cruel  old  Mohammadan  practice  of  selling 
into  slavery  all  prisoners  taken  in  war.  The  more  zealous 
Mussulmans  shrugged  their  shoulders  at  these  lapses  from 
orthodox  usage  ;  but  the  reforming  emperor  held  his  own 
way,  and  their  anger  seldom  broke  into  open  remonstrance 
against  changes  decreed  by  "  God's  Khalif,"  with  the 
virtual  assent  of  doctors  learned  in  Mohammadan  law.j 

In  substituting  a  new  era  dating  from  his  own  accession 
for  that  of  the  Hijra,  he  may  have  been  impelled  by  the 
same  kind  of  vanity  which  led  him  to  enforce  the  nn- 
Mohammadan  practice  of  prostration  before  the  king. 
His  extreme  intolerance  of  the  beards  worn  by  all  good 
Mussulmans  appears  to  lack  even  the  excuse  of  public 
policy,  claimed  for  the  war  which  Tzar  Peter  afterwards 
waged  against  the  beards  of  Muscovite  orthodoxy.  But  in 
the  former  instance  it  is  only  fair  to  credit  him  with  the 
good  results  of  a  change,  which  at  least  included  the  more 
scientific  method  of  reckoning  by  solar  instead  of  lunar 
months  and  years. 

Improving  on  the  example  of  the  Bijapur  kings,  Akbar 

•  On  one  occasion,  hearing  that  the  Rajah  of  Jodpiirwas  forcing  his 
son's  widow  to  do  Sati,  he  rode  off  to  the  spot  to  prevent  the  intended 
sacrifice. 

t  Akbar  took  care  to  obtain  the  legal  opinion  of  his  chief  lawyers, 
that  as  head  of  the  Church  he  had  a  right  to  govern  it  according  to  his 
own  judgment.   (Elphinstone's  "  India,"  book  ix.  chap.  3.) 


JALAL-UD-DIN    AKBAR.  117 

gave  high  employment  to  Hindus  of  mark  or  promise. 
The  Eajah  Man  Singh  became  one  of  his  foremost  generals 
and  most  trusty  governors.  Bir  Bal  perished  as  we  saw 
among  the  hills  of  Swat.  Bhagwan  Das  of  Jaipur,  Akbar's 
brother-in-law,  took  a  leading  part  in  the  conquest  of 
Kashmir ;  while  Eajah  Todar  Mai  ecHpsed  his  own  renown 
as  a  successful  soldier  by  his  civil  government  of  Bengal 
and  the  great  financial  reforms  which,  as  Akbar's  prime 
minister,  he  succeeded  in  carrying  through.*  Under  men 
like  these,  thousands  of  Hindus  fought  in  the  Imperial 
ranks,  or  found  a  wide  field  for  their  talents  in  every 
branch  of  the  civil  service,  except  the  judicial,  which  was 
still  reserved  for  Mohammadans  alone.  In  all  suits,  how- 
ever, between  Hindus,  justice  was  dealt  out  by  the  Moham- 
madan  judges  in  strict  accordance  with  Hindu  law. 

At  once  among  the  bravest  and  most  merciful  of  men, 
Akbar  never  took  the  field  himself  without  chaining  victory 
to  his  standard,  nor  ever  stained  his  arms  with  needless 
cruelties.  But  the  need  for  his  presence  over,  he  left  his 
commanders  to  follow  up  his  own  successes  ;  and  enjoining 
them  to  deal  humanely  with  the  conquered,  betook  him- 
self with  unfeigned  pleasure  to  works  of  peace,  especially 
to  the  great  work  of  establishing  order  and  good  govern- 
ment throughout  the  fifteen  provinces  of  his  empire. 

For  this  end  he  found  a  fitting  helpmate  in  Todar  Mai, 
whose  scheme  for  settling  the  land-revenue  seems  in  the 
main  to  have  developed  the  reforming  policy  of  Humayun's 
conqueror,  Shir  Shah.  The  land  was  divided  into  three 
classes,  whose  degrees  of  fruitfulness  were  measured  by 
one  uniform  standai-d.  For  each  bigah — equal  to  about 
two-thirds  of  an  acre— the  average  yield  of  its  class  was 
taken,  and  of  the  common  average  one-third  was  set  apart 
for  the  government  claim.  The  money  value  of  that  third 
was  reckoned  upon  an  average  of  prices  for  nineteen  years 
back,  and  the  husbandman  was  free  to  pay  the  State's 
*  Todar  Mai  was  a  Hindu  from  Lahdr. 


118  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

share  either  in  money  or  in  kind.  These  assessments,  at 
first  made  yearly,  were  afterwards  revised  only  once  in  ten 
years,  on  an  average  of  payments  for  the  previous  ten. 
All  matters  bearing  on  these  settlements  were  duly  entered 
from  time  to  time  in  the  village  registers.  No  existing 
tenures  were  altered  or  ignored.  Great  care  was  taken  to 
respect  the  rights  and  redress  the  grievances  of  every 
husbandman.  For  revenue  purposes  the  country  was 
parcelled  out  into  districts  of  a  certain  value,  each  placed 
under  its  own  collector.  A  great  many  vexatious  fees  and 
taxes  were  removed,  and  the  system  of  farming  the  re- 
venue was  done  away.  The  net  result  of  these  measures 
was  to  lighten  the  land  of  many  burdens  without  much 
reducing  its  fiscal  value  to  the  State.  Keforms  like  these, 
however  imperfect,  went  far  to  secure  the  happiness  of  the 
people,  and  served  as  the  foundation  on  which  our  own 
countrymen  were  afterwards  to  build.* 

In  reforms  of  police  and  public  justice  the  great  emperor 
showed  himself  equally  zealous,  in  bis  own  despotic  fashion, 
for  his  people's  good.  Criminals  were  punished  without 
needless  cruelty  in  certain  prescribed  ways ;  torture  was 
wholly  forbidden ;  and  in  ordinary  cases  no  one  could  be 
judicially  put  to  death  until  his  sentence  had  been  con- 
firmed by  Akbar  himself.  His  troops  were  regularly  paid 
in  cash,  their  equipment  carefully  supervised,  and  false 
returns  of  men  and  horses  checked  by  musters  taken  be- 
fore each  issue  of  pay.  Each  of  the  officers  appointed  by 
the  king  had  to  keep  so  many  men,  horse,  foot,  mateh- 
lock-men,  and  archers,  ready  for  service  at  need.  The  army 
thus  maintained,  however  fit  for  its  purpose,  was  still  a 
mere  collection  of  chance  levies,  compared  with  the  stand- 
ing armies  of  modern  Europe. 

•  Elphinstone's  "  India,"  book  be.  chap.  3.  Colonel  Meadows  Taylor 
("Manual  of  Indian  History")  points  to  the  close  resemblance  between 
Akbar's  revenue-settlement  and  the  recent  survey  and  aasesament  of 
Bombay. 


I 
1 

I 


JALAL-UD-DIS    AKBAR.  119 

With  a  soldier's  eye  for  defensive  purposes,  Akbar  built 
the  river-fortresses  of  Atak  on  the  Indas,  Agra  on  the 
Jamna,  and  Allahabad  at  the  meeting  of  the  Janma  with 
the  Ganges.  In  all  branches  of  public  business,  his  hand 
was  visible,  sweeping  away  old  abuses,  retrenching  need- 
less outlay,  and  devoting  part  of  his  great  revenues*  to 
works  of  pubhc  usefulness  or  Ksthetic  grandeur.  His  piety 
reared  near  DehU  a  noble  tomb  to  the  memory  of  his 
father  Humayun.  His  splendid  taste  in  architecture  shone 
out  in  the  mighty  gateways,  broad  quadrangles,  and  white 
marble  domes  of  Fathipiir  Sikri,  whose  ruined  glories  still 
iix  the  traveller's  wondering  gaze,  t  Nor  did  he  fail  to 
repair  and  extend  the  system  of  canals  and  waterworks 
begun  two  centuries  earlier  by  Firoz  Toghlak.  To  a 
Mir-ab,  or  Chief  of  the  Waters,  he  entrusted  the  supreme 
control  of  all  such  works,  including  the  collection  of  water- 
rents  and  the  even  distribution  of  water  to  those  who 
needed  it,  whether  rich  or  poor.  With  kindly  thought 
for  his  people's  comfort,  he  ordered  the  planting  of  trees, 
"  both  for  shade  and  blossom,"  along  both  sides  of  the 
canal  first  cut  by  Firoz  between  Kamal  and  Hissar.  J 

Of  this  great  and  wise  monarch  httle  more  remains  here 
to  tell.  His  tall  but  weU-kiiit  frame,  mighty  chest,  and 
long  sinewy  arms,  seem  to  hint  something  of  that  great 
bodily  strength  which  delighted  in  walks  of  forty  and  in 
rides  sometimes  of  a  hundred  miles  a-day.  His  eyes 
were  full  and  dark,  his  skin  of  a  ruddy  brown.  He  was 
equally  at  home  in  the  battle-field,  in  the  jungle  hunting 
tigers  or  tracking  wild  elephants,  in  the  palace  weighing  or 
refuting  the  arguments  of  rival  priests  or  sages,  in  the 
council-room  discussing  points  of  statecraft  with  ministers 

*  He  is  said  to  have  drawn  from  India  a  revenue  of  thirty  millions 
sterling,  more  than  half  of  which  came  directly  from  the  land.  See 
Thomas's  "  Revenue  Eesonxces  of  the  Moghal  Empire." 

t  Its  magnificent  ruins  cover  miles  of  ground  on  the  road  from  Agra 
to  Jaipur, 

X  Kaye's  "  Administration  of  the  East  India  Company,"  p.  29. 


120  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

like  Abul  Fazl  and  Todar  Mai.  Fond  in  his  youth  of 
wine  and  good  living,  in  bis  after  years  he  kept  both  these 
likings  under  stern  control.  Amidst  the  splendour  of  his 
public  progresses  and  receptions,  he  astonished  strangers 
from  the  West  by  his  unstudied  courtesies  and  simple 
tastes.  He  slept,  we  are  told,  but  three  hours  a-day, 
spent  hours  together  on  public  business,  and  took  a  keen 
interest  in  mechanical  arts,  especially  in  the  casting  of 
guns  and  the  manufacture  of  other  weapons.  A  steady 
friend,  a  generous  foe,  a  forgiving  father,  a  ruler  merciful, 
upright,  shrewd  to  select  the  fittest  agents  for  his  work, 
Akbar  has  left  behind  him  one  of  the  brightest  names  in 
the  history  of  any  country,  a  name  whose  lustre  remains 
uudimmed  alike  by  the  flatteries  of  indiscreet  fi-iends  and 
the  abuse  of  unsparing  foes.  * 


*  One  of  these  indiscreet  friends  was  Abul  Fazl  himself,  whose 
"  Akbamamah  "  is  one  long  panegyric.  The  most  valuable  record  of 
Akbar's  home  government  is  the  Ain-i-Akbari,  or  Code  of  Regulations, 
drawn  up  by  Abul  Fazl  under  his  sovereign's  direct  superrision. 


121 


CHAPTER  m. 
jahIngi'r,  1605—1627. 

The  new  emperor,  Selim,  under  the  sounding  title  of 
Jahangir,  "  Conqueror  of  the  World,"  succeeded  peace- 
fully at  the  age  of  thirty-seven  to  his  father's  throne. 
His  earher  measures  went  far  to  allay  the  fears  engendered 
by  his  past  shortcomings.  His  father's  old  officers  were 
retauied  in  their  posts  ;  some  vexatious  duties  and  bar- 
barous practices  which  Akbar  had  left  untouched  were 
swept  away  ;  himself  a  notorious  drimkard,  he  strictly 
forbade  the  use  of  wine  and  regulated  that  of  opium. 
The  Mohammadan  creed  reappeared  upon  the  coinage, 
and  the  forms  and  ritual  of  the  old  religion  resumed  their 
place  in  the  outward  life  of  the  imperial  household. 

The  old  nature  of  the  man,  however,  soon  revealed 
itself.  In  the  spring  of  1606,  a  few  months  after  the 
emperor's  accession,  his  son  Khusru  broke  into  rebellion, 
but  a  month  afterwards  found  himself  a  prisoner  in  his 
father's  hands  at  Labor.  Seven  hundred  of  his  followers 
were  forthwith  impaled  alive  on  a  double  line  of  stakes 
outside  one  of  the  city  gates.*  Along  this  ghastly  avenue 
the  wretched  prince  was  borne  upon  an  elephant,  and  com- 
pelled each  day  to  witness  the  frightful  agonies  of  the 
victims  to  his  own  ambition  and  his  father's  fierce  revenge, 
so  long  as  one  of  them  remained  ahve.  He  himself  was 
carried  to  Kabul,  where  the  discovery  of  a  plot  for  his  re- 
lease again  hardened  his  father's  heart  just  as  the  emperor 
had  begun  to  relas  the  closeness  of  his  son's  confinement. 

*  Elphinstone,  quoting  Jahangi'r'a  Memoirs,  gives  that  number, 
which  Dow  reduces  to  three  hundred. 


122  HISTOEY    OF    INDIA. 

The  next  few  years  were  marked  by  the  efforts  of  the 
imperial  commanders  to  subdue  the  Rana  of  TJdaipur,  and 
to  complete  the  conquest  of  the  Dakhan,  then  ruled  in 
fact  by  MaKk  Ambar,  the  great  Abyssinian  noble,  who, 
for  twenty  years  after  the  murder  of  the  brave  Chand 
Sultana,  upheld  the  sinking  fortunes  of  the  house  of 
Nizam  Shah.  Very  Uttle  progress  did  the  Moghal  arms 
make  against  the  Eajput  bighlanders  of  Mewar,  untU  the 
emperor's  third  son,  Prince  Khurram,  ere  long  to  be 
known  as  Shah  Jahan,  took  the  field  in  person,  and 
proved  his  generalship  by  compelling  the  Kana  of  Udaipiir 
to  sue  for  peace.  Mindful  of  his  grandfather's  pohcy. 
Shah  Jahan  raised  from  the  gi'ound  his  suppliant  foe, 
placed  him  by  his  own  side,  and  treated  him  with  all 
kingly  courtesy.  The  heir  to  the  glorious  memories  of 
Eana  Sanga,  the  ruler  of  a  kingdom  independent  for  many 
centuries,  now  became  the  vassal  of  the  great  Moghal ; 
but  the  country  which  Akbar  had  conquered  from  the 
kings  of  Mewar  was  restored  to  that  vassal's  keeping,  and 
his  son  was  raised  to  one  of  the  chief  posts  of  honour  at 
Jahiingir's  court. 

Two  years  after  his  successes  in  Eajputana,  Shah 
Jahan  was  sent  to  retrieve  the  mishaps  of  former  com- 
manders in  the  war  against  Malik  Ambar.  Abandoned  by 
his  ally,  the  king  of  Bijapur,  the  great  Abyssinian  was 
soon  forced  to  surrender  the  provinces  he  had  won  back 
from  the  Moghals.  Within  four  years,  however,  Shah 
Jahan  was  again  marching  towards  the  Narbadha  to  drive 
Malik  Ambar's  Afghans  and  Marathas  back  to  their  ap- 
pointed boundaries.  In  spite  of  his  skilful  soldiership, 
the  champion  of  Ahmadnagar  was  brought  to  battle  and 
again  beaten  by  his  former  conqueror,  who  granted  him 
the  peace  he  asked  for  at  a  heavy  price  in  territory  and 
rupees.* 

*  One  of  Malik  Ambar's  chief  followers  wjvs  Shahji,  father  of  Sivaji, 
founder  of  the  Mariltha  power. 


JAHANGIR.  123 

In  the  midst  of  these  successes  trouble  was  lying  in 
wait  for  the  victor  himself  at  the  hands  of  his  stepmother 
Nur-Jaban.  Some  time  before  his  own  accession  Jahan- 
gir  had  seen  and  loved  the  beautiful  daughter  of  a  Persian 
gentleman,  who,  after  many  misfortunes,  had  taken  service 
in  Akbar's  court.  But  her  hand  was  ah-eady  pUghted  to 
one  of  Akbar's  nobles,  the  brave  Shir  Afgan,  who  led  her 
away  with  him  to  his  manor  in  Bardwan.  StUl  bent  on 
winning  her  for  himself,  Jahiingir,  soon  after  he  came  to 
the  throne,  would  have  bribed  her  husband  into  giving  up 
his  treasure.  On  Shir  Afgan's  refusal,  high  words  seem 
to  have  passed  between  him  and  Jahangir's  agent,  the 
Viceroy  of  Bengal.  The  latter  fell  under  Shir  Afgan's 
dagger,  and  the  murderer  in  his  turn  was  slain  by  the 
Viceroy's  followers.  Nur-Jahan,  removed  to  Dehli,  still 
turned  a  deaf  ear  to  Jahangu-'s  addresses.  At  last,  how- 
ever, she  yielded  to  his  prayers  or  her  own  ambition,  and 
in  1611  the  marriage  was  celebrated  with  unusual  pomp. 

From  that  time  Nur-Jahan  wielded  over  her  husband 
an  empire  which  ended  only  with  his  Ufe.  He  caused  her 
name  to  be  inscribed  on  the  coinage  ;  in  all  matters  which 
attracted  her  notice  her  will  became  law.  Her  father  was 
made  prime  minister ;  her  brother  was  raised  to  an  im- 
portant post.  Her  taste  enhanced  the  magnificence,  her 
good  management  kept  down  the  expenses  of  the  Emperor's 
court.  His  vicious  tendencies  were  so  far  held  in  check 
by  her  sweet  influence,  that  he  seldom  gave  way  to  savage 
outbursts,  and  never  allowed  himself  to  get  drunk  before 
the  evening. 

To  Shah  Jahan,  the  ablest  and  best  beloved  of  his  sons, 
the  husband  of  her  own  niece,  the  Emperor's  acknowledged 
heir,  she  had  hitherto  given  her  powerful  support.  But 
the  death  of  her  father,  followed  by  that  of  Prince  Khusru, 
the  marriage  of  her  own  daughter  to  the  Emperor's  fourth 
son.  Prince  Shahriilr,  and  the  serious  illness  of  the 
Emperor  himself  in  1621,  all  conspired  to  turn  the  am- 


124  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

bilious  woman's  heart  against  the  object  of  her  former 
liliing.  The  report  of  her  altered  feehngs,  of  her  intrigues 
in  favour  of  her  new  son-in-law,  reached  the  ears  of  Shah 
Jahan,  who  had  just  been  ordered  to  retake  Kandahar 
from  its  Persian  conquerors.  His  manifest  unwillingness 
to  leave  India  on  such  an  errand  at  a  time  so  critical, 
brought  him  into  conflict  with  his  deluded  father.  A  year 
passed  away  in  fruitless  interchange  of  messages  between 
Jahangir  at  Labor  and  his  mistrustful  son  at  Mandu,  then 
the  capital  of  Gujarat.  At  last  the  quarrel  blazed  out 
into  open  war,  which  told  disastrously  against  Shah  Jahan. 
Driven  out  of  the  Dakhan  by  superior  numbers,  he  sud- 
denly turned  northwards,  led  his  troops  boldly  through 
Orissa  into  Bengal,  and  early  in  1624  defeated  the 
Governor  of  that  province  at  Kajmahal. 

For  a  short  time  he  became  master  of  Bengal  and 
Bahar.  But  the  Imperial  leaders  followed  him  up  ;  his 
own  troops  began  to  melt  away,  he  himself  fell  sick,  and 
at  length,  in  spite  of  the  help  aflbrded  him  in  the  Dakhan 
by  Malik  Ambar,  the  hard-pressed  Shah  Jahan  was  fain  to 
accept  the  terms — surrender  of  his  last  strongholds,  and 
of  his  two  sons  as  hostages — on  which  alone  his  father 
would  grant  him  peace  and  forgiveness. 

By  this  time,  however,  a  new  quarrel  of  Nur-Jahan's 
provoking  was  about  to  involve  the  Emperor  in  new 
difficulties.  Mohubat  Khan,  the  Afghan  general  whom 
the  Empress  had  employed  to  aid  her  against  Shah  Jahan, 
had  aroused  her  jealousy  by  his  late  successes  in  the  field 
and  his  growing  influence  at  Court.  False  charges  were 
brought  against  him,  and  by  the  Emperor's  orders  a  cruel 
outrage  was  inflicted  on  his  son-in-law.*  Mohabat  soon 
took  his  revenge.  As  the  Emperor  was  marching  towards 
Kabul,    Mohabat,  who  had   been  ordered   to  accompany 

*  A  young  nobleman,  who  had  married  Uohiibat's  daughter  without 
the  Emperor's  leave,  was  stripped  naked  and  flogged  with  thorns  in 
Jah^ngi'r's  presence. 


JAHANGIR.  125 

liim,  broke  one  morning  into  the  tent  where  he  lay  sleep- 
ing off  his  last  night's  carouse.  Jahangir  awoke  to  find 
himself  a  prisoner,  cut  oflf  from  his  troops  on  the  other 
side  of  the  JhOam  by  a  strong  body  of  Rajputs,  who 
guarded  the  bridge  of  boats.  Baffled  in  a  daring  attempt 
to  rescue  her  captive  husband,  Nur-Jahan  resolved  to 
share  his  confinement  in  the  hope  of  ere  long  finding  a 
way  to  set  him  fi-ee. 

That  hope  was  soon  to  be  fulfilled.  During  a  review  of 
the  Imperial  troops  at  Kabul,  a  body  of  her  o^-n  followers 
managed  to  strike  in  between  the  Emperor  and  his  guards, 
and  to  bear  the  former  away  into  the  midst  of  assured 
friendsi  Mohiibat  Khan  was  pardoned  on  condition  of 
restoring  the  Empress's  brother,  Asof  Khan,  to  freedom, 
and  promising  to  go  in  chase  of  her  enemy  Shah  Jahan. 
The  fortunes  of  that  prince,  a  fugitive  in  Sindh,  whom  ill- 
hoalth  alone  prevented  from  fleeing  to  Persia,  had  reached 
their  lowest  ebb,  when  the  death  of  his  brother  Parviz  was 
followed  by  new  disagreements  between  his  father  and 
Mohabat  Khan.  The  prince  and  his  late  pursuer  joined 
forces  in  the  Dakhan,  and  prepared  to  march  towards 
Agra,  when  the  death  of  Jahangir  freed  his  son  from 
further  annoyances,  and  brought  Nur-Jahan's  power  and 
plottings  to  a  timely  end.  Thenceforth,  until  her  own 
death  in  1646,  Jahangir's  widow  took  no  part  in  pubhc 
affairs,  devoting  her  life  and  the  bulk  of  her  magnificent 
pension  to  the  memory  of  her  uxorious  husband. 

It  was  during  the  last  two  reigns  that  our  countrymen 
first  made  their  way  to  the  court  of  the  Great  Moghal.  In 
1607  Captain  Hawkins  had  been  sent  out  by  the  East 
India  Company  with  a  view  to  obtain  some  footing  for 
Enghsh  trade  in  Indian  ports.  Some  twenty  years  earher 
two  Enghsh  travellers,  Ralph  Fitch  and  .John  Newbery, 
had  found  themselves,  after  many  hardships  and  narrow 
escapes  by  land  and  sea,  safe  at  last  in  Akbar's  own  citv 
of  Fathipur  Sikri.     Little,  however,  came  of  this  journey, 


12G 


MISTOEY    OF    INDIA. 


whose  quaint  and  interesting  details  are  recorded  in  Hak- 
luyt's  Voyages,*  save  fresh  encouragement  to  that  spirit  of 
English  enterprise  which  the  voyages  and  achievements  of 
Drake,  Hawkins,  Kaleigh,  and  other  of  Elizabeth's  captains, 
had  just  called  into  active  play.  Captain  Lancaster's  first 
voyage  in  1501,  if  it  added  little  to  our  knowledge  of  India 
itself,  whetted  the  greed  or  the  curiosity  of  Englishmen  at 
home.  In  December,  IGOO,  the  Earl  of  Cumberland  and 
215  knights,  aldermen,  and  merchants  were  enrolled  by 
royal  charter  into  a  company  of  merchants  trading  to  the 
East  Indies,  and  invested  among  ether  privileges  with  the 
monopoly  of  our  Eastern  trade  for  the  next  fifteen  years. 
Their  modest  capital  of  £75,000  was  at  once  laid  out  in 
five  vessels  freighted  with  goods  and  bullion,  and  placed 
under  the  command  of  Captain  Lancaster,  who  in  due 
time  brought  home  a  goodly  cargo  from  Sumatra  and 
Java,  enriched  with  the  spoils  of  a  large  vessel  captured 
from  the  Portuguese.  Fresh  fleets  were  afterwards  des- 
patched under  Middleton,  Keeling,  and  other  captains, 
who  refilled  their  vessels,  by  fail-  means  or  foul,  with  equal 
scorn  for  the  feelings  of  native  traders  and  the  exclusive 
claims  of  their  Portuguese  rivals. 

In  company  with  Keehng  went  Captain  Hawkins,  who, 
after  many  adventures  and  much  resistance  from  the  Por- 
tuguese and  their  friends  at  Sui-at,  met  with  a  gracious 
welcome  at  Agra,  in  1609,  from  Jahiingir  himself.  For  a 
time  all  went  hopefully  with  the  English  stranger.  He 
was  promised  a  handsome  salary  whUe  he  stayed  at  court ; 
an  Armenian  maiden  was  sought  out  and  given  him  for 
■nife  ;  his  pleadings  on  behaK  of  the  new  company  were 
heard  with  seeming  approval ;  and  leave  was  granted  him 
under  the  Emperor's  seal  to  establish  a  factory  at  Surat. 

*  Richard  Hakluyt,  Archdeacon  of  Westminster,  first  published  in 
1582  a  small  collecfion  of  Voyages  and  Discoveries,  aftenvards  much 
enlarged  in  1589— IfiOO.  He  became  the  first  historiographer  to  the 
old  East  India  Company,  founded  in  IGOO. 


JAH.VNGIR.  127 

At  last,  however,  his  prospects  began  to  change  for  the 
worse.  The  intrigues  of  his  enemies  at  Surat  and  of 
Portuguese  agents  at  Agra  prevailed  against  him ;  his 
salary  was  left  unpaid ;  his  interviews  with  the  Emperor 
grew  less  frequent;  and  at  length,  in  November,  1611, 
Hawkins  set  out  on  his  homeward  journey  with  the  main 
object  of  his  mission  unfulfilled. 

A  few  months  afterwards,  however.  Captain  Best  reco- 
vered the  gi'ound  which  Hawkins  had  won  and  lost.  With 
his  four  ships  he  inflicted  a  signal  defeat  on  a  Portuguese 
squadron,  which  sought  to  keep  English  traders  out  of 
Surat.  His  victory  taught  the  Imperial  officers  to  respect 
those  whom  they  had  hitherto  despised.  In  1613  Jahan- 
gir  confirmed  by  formal  treaty  the  privileges  fii'st  bestowed 
on  Hawkins ;  and  from  that  time  Surat  became  the  chief 
seat  of  English  trade  in  Western  India. 

The  footing  thus  gained  by  the  East  India  Company 
was  quickly  followed  up  by  the  despatch  of  another 
embassy  to  the  Moghal  Court.  In  the  last  days  of  1015 
Sir  Thomas  Eoe  presented  his  letters  from  King  James  I. 
to  Jahangir,  who  received  him  with  marked  distinction  at 
Ajmir,  and  treated  him  for  two  years  as  an  honoured  and 
even  familiar  guest.  With  very  few  exceptions,  the  great 
men  and  courtiers  followed  the  Emperor's  example.  Their 
good-will  indeed  could  not  always  be  secured  without 
heavy  bribes  ;  nor  did  Shah  Jaban  himself  *  look  kindly 
on  the  new-comers  who  sympathised  with  his  brother 
Khusru,  and  shared,  however  innocently,  in  the  drunken 
revellings  at  his  father's  court.  In  the  end,  however.  Sir 
Thomas  overcame  all  obstacles  by  dint  of  unwearied 
patience  and  cool  address;  and  he  returned  to  Surat 
armed  ■nith  fresh  powers  on  behalf  of  the  Company,  whose 

*  Hoe  describes  Mm  as  a  tyrant  and  a  bigot,  who  never  smiled,  nor 
paid  court  to  any  one  in  particular ;  "  flattered  by  some,  envied  by 
others,  loved  by  noue;"  but  the  picture  must  be  tal<en  with  large 
allowance  for  outward  appearances  and  the  force  of  personal  prejudice. 


129  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

rights  of  trading  were  thenceforth  extended  to   the  whole 
of  India. 

It  was  one  thing  to  secure  these  rights  on  paper,  but 
quite  another  to  enforce  them  against  jealous  rivals  from 
the  West,  and  unwilling  servants  of  the  Moghal.  Little  by 
little,  however,  the  Company  enlarged  their  outlay  and 
found  new  markets  for  their  trade.  A  few  years  of  joint 
action  between  the  Dutch  and  EngUsh  companies  in  the 
eastern  seas  closed  abruptly  in  1623  with  the  torture  and 
execution  of  twelve  Englishmen  at  Amboyna,*  on  an 
utterly  false  charge  of  conspiring  to  seize  the  Dutch  fort. 
Driven  from  the  spice-bearing  Moluccas,  the  English 
turned  their  attention  more  and  more  to  India  itself,  where, 
besides  their  growing  trade  with  Surat,  they  had  already 
gained  a  footing  on  the  Malabar  coast.  In  1625,  their 
first  settlement  on  the  eastern  or  Coromandel  coast  was 
founded  at  Armegaum,  a  little  to  the  south  of  Vellor. 
Within  three  years  the  new  factory  was  armed  with  twelve 
guns  and  manned  by  a  small  body  of  factors  and  soldiers. 
Thither  was  removed  the  trade  which  some  years  earlier 
had  flowed  to  Masulipatam.  Ere  long,  however,  the  trade 
of  Armegaum  proved  so  unprofitable,  that  in  1639  Mr. 
Day  got  leave  from  a  native  chief  to  build  a  new  factory  at 
Madraspatam,  the  germ  of  Fort  St.  George  and  the  popu- 
lous city  of  Madras.  But  we  must  not  further  anticipate 
the  events  which  have  to  be  recorded  in  the  following 
chapters. 

*  One  of  the  largest  of  the  Moluccas,  or  Spice  Islands,  in  the  Ea-steni 
Archipelago. 


129 


CHAPTER  IV. 

SHAH  JAHAN,  1628 1658. 

On  the  death  of  Jahangir,  his  son  Shah  Jahan  hastened 
to  Agra,  where  with  the  help  of  Nur- Jahan's  brother,  Asof 
Khan,  he  quietly  mounted  his  father's  throne.  Freed 
from  present  anxieties  by  the  captui-e  and  death  of  Shah- 
riar,*  the  new  emperor  gave  the  reins  to  his  taste  for 
splendid  pageantry  and  architectural  gi-andeur.  In  the 
midst  of  festivals  costing  millions  of  rupees,  and  of  magni- 
ficent plans  for  rebuilding  and  adorning  Dehli,  he  was  sud- 
denly called  upon  to  put  dovra  a  formidable  revolt  headed 
by  Khan  Jahiin  Lodi,  one  of  his  great  lords  and  former 
opponents,  who  claimed  descent  from  the  Pathan  kings  of 
Dehli.  Mistrustful  of  the  emperor's  feelings  towards  him- 
self, he  suddenly  broke  away  from  Agra  with  his  household 
and  armed  retainers,  beat  back  the  pursuing  troops  at  the 
Chambal,  and,  plunging  into  the  ^-ilds  of  Bundalkhand 
and  Gondwana,  made  his  way  into  the  Dakhan,  where  he 
counted  on  bringing  many  an  old  friend  to  his  side,  if  not 
on  raising  the  whole  of  Southern  India  against  the 
Moghal.  From  the  King  of  Ahmadnagar,  who  had  just 
lost  his  able  minister,  MaKk  Ambar,  he  met  with  a  warm 
welcome;  but  the  Kings  of  Bijapur  and  Golkonda  held 
aloof;  and  the  Maratha  chieftain,  Sbabji,  soon  saw  reason 
to  abandon  his  former  friend,  and  enter  into  the  service  of 
Shah  Jahan.  Defeated,  hunted  from  place  to  place,  and 
baffled  in  every  attempt  to  make  a  stand,  Khan  Jahan  fell 

*  Not  only  Shahriar,  but  the  sons  of  Prince  Dania!  also,  were  put 
to  death  by  Shah  Jahan's  orders. 

E 


ISO  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

at  last  fighting  bravely  near  Kalinjar,  at  the  head  of  a  few 
of  his  remaining  followers. 

After  his  death  the  war  which  he  had  kindled  in  the 
Dakhan  blazed  up  afresh.  The  King  of  Bijapur  at  length 
took  part  with  his  neighbour  of  Ahmadnagar.  On  the 
murder  of  the  latter  by  his  minister,  Fattah  Khan,  the  son 
of  Malik  Ambar,  his  people  made  peace  with  the  emperor, 
who  turned  his  arms  against  Bijapur.  For  several  years 
the  king  of  that  country  defied  the  efforts  of  such  able 
commanders  as  Asof  Khan  and  Mohabi.t  Klian.  Ahmad- 
nagar, under  its  new  master,  Shahji,  again  joined  the 
conflict  on  the  side  of  Bijapur ;  and  not  till  1636  did  Adil 
Shah  of  Bijapur  give  up  the  doubtful  game,  on  condition 
of  paying  a  yearly  tribute  to  Shah  Jahiin  in  return  for  a 
large  slice  of  the  Ahmadnagar  state.  Next  year  Shahji 
also  made  peace,  and  thenceforth  Ahmadnagar  ceased  to 
be  an  independent  kingdom. 

Meanwhile,  in  1632,  the  Portuguese  were  finally  driven 
out  of  Hiiglili,  near  Calcutta,  by  order  of  Shah  Jahan,  who 
had  not  forgotten  the  refusal  of  the  Portuguese  governor 
to  aid  him  in  his  hour  of  need  against  his  father's  troops. 
After  an  existence  of  nearly  a  century,  the  fort  at  Hiighli 
was  stormed  by  the  Moghals,  a  thousand  of  the  garrison 
were  put  to  the  sword,  besides  several  thousands  taken 
prisoners,  and  only  three  out  of  three  hundred  ships  in  the 
river  made  their  escape.  Thenceforth  the  Portuguese 
power  in  Bengal  was  cmshed  for  ever. 

In  1637,  Kandahar,  the  old  appanage  of  the  House  of 
Babar,  was  surrendered  to  the  Moghals  by  its  governor, 
Ali  Mardan  Khan.  Ten  years  later,  however,  it  fell  again 
into  Persian  hands,  and  the  bravest  eflbrts  of  Shah  Jahiin's 
officers  and  men  failed,  after  three  sieges,  in  winning  it 
back.  Meanwhile,  AU  Mardan  had  tried  the  mettle  of  his 
troops,  including  14,000  Rajputs,  in  conquering  Balkh  for 
Shah  Jahan.  After  two  years,  however,  of  harassing  war- 
fare with  the  Uzbeks  from  beyond  the  Oxus,  Shah  Jahan 


SHAH    JAHAX. 


131 


•was   glad  to  make  over  his  new   conquest  to  its   former 
master. 

For  two  years  after  the  failure  of  the  last  attempt  on 
Kandahar,  the  empire  enjoyed  unbroken  peace.  Shah 
Jahan  employed  that  interval  in  extending  to  the  Dakhan 
the  revenue  system  shaped  out  by  Todar  ilal.  Emulous 
of  Akbar's  great  example,  his  grandson  governed  well  and 
justly  according  to  Eastern  ideas,  treating  his  subjects, 


THE    TAJ-MAUAL   AT    AGRA. 


says  Tavemier,  as  a  father  would  treat  his  children,  and 
choosing  for  his  ministers  men  like  Saad  TJUah  Khan, 
ablest  and  most  upright  of  Indian  viziers.  In  spite  of 
his  lavish  outlay  on  the  court,  on  public  shows,  and  the 
embellishment  of  great  cities,  he  seems  to  have  raised 
with  ease  a  revenue  of  more  than  fifty  millions,  and  he 
left  as  much  as  twenty-four  millions  behind  him  in  his 
treasury.  His  people,  on  the  whole,  were  prosperous  and 
k2 


132  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

contented.  The  noblest  streets  in  modem  Dehli,  tlio 
fortified  palace  with  its  marble  halls  and  wide  courts,  and 
the  Jama  Masjid,  or  Great  Mosque  of  that  city,  attest  the 
splendour  of  his  taste  in  building  ;  while  the  exquisite 
Taj  Mahal  at  Agra,  with  its  taper  minarets,  soft-sweUing 
marble  dome,  dehcate  trellis-work,  and  flowing  mosaics, 
has  few,  if  any,  rivals  in  the  world  for  stately  grace  and 
symmetry  of  form,  chaste  brilliance  of  general  eflect,  and 
finished  beauty  of  rich  but  telling  decoration.  Reared  in 
memory  of  his  empress,  Mumtaz-Mahal,  it  has  since  served 
to  delight  a  long  succession  of  strangers  from  the  West.* 
A  yet  costlier,  if  less  noble,  monument  of  decorative  art 
was  the  far-famed  peacock-throne  at  Dehh,  adorned  with 
a  mass  of  diamonds,  rubies,  sapphires,  and  other  gems, 
after  the  fashion  of  a  peacock's  tail. 

Meanwhile,  however,  the  ambition  of  Aurangzib,  one  of 
the  emperor's  sons,  and  the  intrigues  of  Mir  Jumla,  vizier 
to  the  King  of  Golkonda,  rekindled  the  flames  of  war  in 
the  Dakhan,  with  results  that  proved  ruinous  in  the  long- 
run  to  the  Moghal  empire.  Appointed  viceroy  of  the 
Dakhan  after  his  failure  at  Kandahar  in  1653,  Am-angzib 
took  up  Mir  Jumla's  quarrel  with  his  master,  and  per- 
suaded the  emperor  to  let  him  work  his  will  on  the  king 
of  Golkonda.  Haidariibad  was  sacked  by  the  viceroy's 
troops,  and  Abdullah  Kutab  Shah,  driven  into  a  corner, 
accepted  the  hard  terms  imposed  by  Anrangzib. 

At  this  moment  died  Mahmiid  AdU  Shah,  the  aged  King 
of  Bijapur,  whose  capital  he  had  adorned  with  some  of 
the  noblest  buildings  to  be  seen  in  India.  His  death 
became  the  pretext  for  new  aggressions  on  the  part  of 
Aurangzib,  who  claimed  for  the  emperor  the  right  of 
naming  an  heir  to  the  vacant  throne.  A  Moghal  army 
made  a  sudden  inroad  into  Bijapur.     Marking  his  pro- 

*  Seen  by  moonlight,  filling  up  one  end  of  the  cypress  avenue  leading 
from  the  outer  gate  to  the  marble  ten-ace  whereon  it  stands,  the  Taj 
gleams  like  a  vision  of  fairyland. 


SHAH    JAHAN.  133 

gress  with  fire  and  sword,  Aurangzib  at  length  besieged 
the  city  of  Bijapiir  itself.  The  young  king,  whose  troops 
were  chiefly  away  in  the  Carnatic,  was  ready  to  accept 
such  terms  as  his  enemy  might  choose  to  force  upon  him, 
when  news  of  the  emperor's  serious  illness  reached  the 
camp  of  Aurangzib.  Concluding  a  hasty  peace  with  his 
lately  despairing  foe,  that  crafty  prince  made  ready  to 
take  all  advantage  of  an  illness  which  at  any  moment 
might  end  in  death. 

Then  began  a  fight  for  empire  between  the  four  sons  of 
Shah  Jahan.  Dara  Sheko,  the  eldest,  who  had  for  some 
time  shared  his  father's  power  and  duties,  was  now  in  his 
ibrty-second  year — a  frank,  free-handed,  open-hearted 
prince,  of  undoubted  talent,  marred  by  an  overbearing 
temper  and  an  utter  want  of  common  prudence.  In  reli- 
gion a  free-thinker  of  Akbar's  school,  he  lacked  one  main 
source  of  the  influence  wielded  by  his  abler,  warier,  more 
scheming,  and  far  more  bigoted  brother,  Aurangzib.  Be- 
tween these  two  came  Prince  Shuja,  viceroy  of  Bengal, 
whose  talents  were  neutralised  by  his  love  of  wine  and 
pleasure.  Aurangzib's  younger  brother,  Morad,  viceroy 
of  Gujarat,  was  brave  and  generous,  but  dull-witted,  glut- 
tonous, and  a  drunkard.  In  him,  however,  the  thh-d  of 
his  father's  sons  found  a  convenient  tool  for  the  carrying 
out  of  his  own  plans.  Leaving  Dara  and  Shuja  to  waste 
their  strength  against  each  other,  Aurangzib  soon  taught 
the  credulous  Morad  to  look  upon  him  as  a  firm  upholder 
of  Morad's  claim  to  their  father's  throne.  They  ageed  to 
join  forces  against  the  free-thinking  Dara  and  his  Hindu 
heutenant,  Jeswant  Singh. 

In  April,  1658,  Shuja,  defeated  by  Soliman,  the  son  of 
Dara,  withdrew  from  his  fruitless  struggle  into  Bengal. 
Meanwhile  Dara  himself  marched  to  his  own  defeat  at  the 
hands  of  Aurangzib.  FaUiag  back  from  Ujain  to  Agra, 
the  beaten  prince,  impatient  of  his  father's  counsels,  and 
trusting  to  his  own  superior  numbers,  staked  his  own  and 


134  HISTORY    OF    IN'DU. 

his  father's  fortunes  on  a  battle  fought  near  Agra  in  the 
month  of  June.  The  day  was  nearly  his  own,  when  a 
panic  seized  his  troops,  and  Aurangzib,  pressing  forward, 
drove  them  in  wild  flight  from  the  field  he  had  well-nigh 
lost.  Pushing  his  advantage,  he  marched  on  to  Agra,  took 
his  aged  father  prisoner,  and,  throwing  otf  the  mask  he 
had  hitherto  worn,  placed  Morad  also  under  close  arrest. 
On  reaching  DehU  in  August,  he  caused  himself  to  be 
proclaimed  emperor  in  the  room  of  Shah  Jahan.  The 
deposed  monarch  lived  for  eight  years  longer,  but  his 
splendid  reign  of  thirty  years  ceased  with  the  entrance 
into  Dehli  of  his  nndutiful  son. 

During  these  years  the  English  made  further  progress 
in  their  Indian  trade.  In  1634  Shah  Jahan  gave  the  East 
India  Company  leave  to  trade  with  Bengal,  and  the  first 
factory  in  that  province  was  set  up  at  Piph,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Hiighli  river.  Two  years  afterwards  a  suc- 
cessful cure  wrought  on  the  emperor's  daughter  by  Mr. 
Bonghton,  one  of  the  Company's  surgeons,  was  rewarded, 
at  his  own  request,  by  new  concessions  to  his  employers. 
In  return  for  a  Kke  service  rendered  by  that  gentleman  to 
the  household  of  Prince  Shuja,  his  countrymen  were 
allowed  to  erect  new  factories  at  Hiighh  and  Balasor. 

Meanwhile  a  rival  company,  favoured,  for  his  own  pur- 
poses, by  Charles  I.,  attempted  for  about  twenty  years  to 
trade  on  their  own  account  in  the  Eastern  seas.  At  length, 
however,  the  influence  of  the  older  body  prevailed  with 
Cromwell's  counciUors,  and  the  two  companies  became  one. 
Sm-at  and  Madras  formed  two  presidencies  ;  the  fonner 
having  control  over  the  settlements  in  the  Persian  Gulf 
and  Western  India,  while  the  latter  held  sway  over  the 
factories  in  Bengal  and  along  the  Coromandel  coast. 


185 


CHAPTER  V. 

AinvAKGziB,  1658 — 1707. 

Under  the  title  of  Alamgir,  Lord  of  the  World,  the  new 
Emperor  began  his  reign.  In  the  midst  of  his  relentless 
pursuit  of  his  brother  Dara,  he  was  called  away  to  en- 
counter Shuja,  who  had  once  more  taken  the  field  with  a 
well-appointed  army,  and  had  already  reached  Banaras  on 
his  march  up  towards  Agra.  The  two  brothers  encountered 
each  other  at  Kajwa,  a  few  marches  to  the  north-west  of 
Allahabad.  In  spite  of  a  sudden  attack  upon  his  rear  by 
his  old  opponent  Rajah  Jeswant  Singh,  the  Emperor  bravely 
held  his  ground,  untU  by  a  mixture  of  cool  courage,  able 
generalship,  and  good  fortune,  the  imminent  defeat  was 
turned  into  a  crushing  victory.  Allahabad  surrendered  to 
the  conqueror,  and  Shuja,  hotly  pressed  by  Mir  Jumla, 
feU  back  into  the  heart  of  Bengal.  The  rainy  season 
compelled  a  pause  in  the  pursuit ;  but  by  the  year's  end 
Shuja  had  been  driven  across  the  Brahmaputra.  A  few 
months  later  he  fled  with  a  few  followers  into  the  Arakan 
hills,  where  aU  trace  of  him  and  his  family  verj'  soon  dis- 
appeared.* 

Meanwhile  Dara,  abandoned  by  Jeswant  Singh,  whom 
his  crafty  brother  had  at  length  bought  over  to  his  own 
side,  led  his  recruited  forces  to  a  strong  position  near 
Ajmir.  Once  more  a  hard-fought  battle  ended  in  his 
defeat  at  the  hands  of  his  abler  and  more  determined 
brother.      Ahmadabad    shut   its   gates    on  the   princely 

*  It  is  supposed  that  they  lost  their  lives  through  plotting  against 
the  Rajah  of  Arakan.     (Elphinstone's  "  India,"  book  ix.  chap.  1.) 


136  HISTORY    OF    IXDIA. 

fugitive ;  his  wife  died  of  fatigue  and  suifenBg  on  the 
way  to  Kandahar ;  and  ere  long  Dara  himself,  with  one  of 
his  sons,  was  basely  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  his  ruthless 
brother  by  a  man  whom  he  had  once  befriended,  the  chief 
of  Jiin  in  Eastern  Sindh.  Led  in  chains,  on  a  soiTy 
elephant,  through  the  streets  of  that  Dehli  whose  heart 
stiU  yearned  towards  its  recent  master,  the  ill-starred  cap- 
tive was  hurried  to  trial  on  the  convenient  charge  of 
apostasy  from  the  faith  of  Islam.  When  his  head  was 
brought  to  Aurangzib,  the  emperor  made  a  show  of  weep- 
ing over  the  fruits  of  his  own  unsparing  ambition. 

By  a  strange  coincidence  the  two  sons  of  Dara  and  the 
son  of  his  youngest  brother  Morad  died  shortly  afterwards 
in  the  prison  they  had  been  sharing  together  in  Gwalior. 
Morad  himself,  whose  blind  trust  in  Aurangzib  had  been 
requited  by  a  long  imprisonment,  was  linaUy  brought  to 
trial  on  a  charge  trumped  up  against  him  by  his  heartless 
brother,  and  paid  with  his  hfe  the  penalty  of  standing  too 
near  the  throne. 

Soon  afterwards  another  source  of  possible  danger  was 
removed  out  of  the  Emperor's  way.  His  ablest  general, 
Mir  Jumla,  had  been  ordered  or  encouraged  to  attempt  the 
conquest  of  Assam.  For  a  time  Mir  Jumla  carried  all 
before  him  ;  but  the  rain-floods  stopped  him  in  mid-career ; 
sickness  raged  among  his  troops  ;  and  a  disastrous  retreat 
to  Dacca  ended  in  their  great  leader's  death.  His  memory 
was  honoured  by  his  son's  promotion,  and  an  expressive 
eulogy  from  the  pen  of  Aurangzib.* 

By  that  time  the  Emperor's  alarming  Ulness  had  for  a 
moment  threatened  his  life  as  well  as  his  throne.  As  he 
lay  in  the  last  stage  of  weakness,  he  learned  that  his 
enemies  were  plotting  to  set  up  Shah  Jahan,  or  one  of  his 
own  sons,  in  his  stead.  Propped  up  by  pillows,  he  in- 
sisted on  receiving  anew  the  homage  of  his  chief  barons  ; 

♦  "  You  have  lost  a  father,"  he  wrote  to  llohammad  Amin,  "  and  1 
have  lost  the  greatest  and  most  dangerous  of  my  friends." 


AURANGZIB.  137 

and  wrote  out  the  orders  which  his  tongue  still  refused  to 
utter.  By  such  means,  with  the  help  of  his  faithful  sister, 
Raushanara,  he  kept  his  enemies  quiet  until  his  recovered 
health  put  aU  hope  of  active  resistance  out  of  their  heads. 

About  this  time  a  new  and  more  serious  peril  to  the 
House  of  Babar  had  begun  to  rear  its  head  beyond  the 
Narbadha.  The  bold  Maratha  chieftain  Shahji,  whom  we 
lately  saw  carving  a  new  kingdom  for  himself  in  the 
Dakhan,"'  was  son  of  Maloji  Bhosla,  a  Maratha  captain  of 
horse  under  the  orders  of  Jadu  Rao,  a  distinguished  Raj- 
put leader,  who,  after  following  the  fortunes  of  the  re- 
nc.med  Malik  Ambar,  had  at  length  thrown  him  over  for 
the  sake  of  sei-ving  under  Shah  Jahan.  In  due  time 
Maloji  won  for  Shahji  the  hand  of  Jadu's  highborn 
daughter,  to  which  he  had  long  aspired  in  vain.  By  fair 
means  or  foul  Shahji  in  his  turn  fought  his  way  among 
the  wrecks  of  fallen  dynasties  and  dismembered  kingdoms 
to  the  lordship  of  large  estates  lying  between  Puna  and 
Bangalor. 

His  second  son  Sivaji,  the  future  founder  of  the 
Maratha  empire,  was  brought  up  at  Puna  under  his 
mother's  care,  by  his  father's  Brahman  agent,  Dadaji 
Pant.  Inm-ed  from  boyhood  to  hardy  exercises,  and 
mingling  constantly  with  the  wild  Maratha  highlanders  in 
his  neighbom-hood,  Sivaji  ere  long  broke  from  his  tutor's 
care,  and  became  the  leader  of  a  band  of  lawless  youths 
ready  to  follow  him  in  any  raid,  whether  against  the  wild 
beasts  of  their  native  hills  or  the  Mohammadan  dwellers  in 
the  plains.  At  the  age  of  nineteen  he  contrived  to  seize 
the  strong  hill-fort  of  Torna,  twenty  miles  south-west  of 
Piina.  In  the  following  year  he  built  a  new  stronghold  on 
a  neighbouring  hUl.  Ere  long  several  other  forts  were 
wrested  from  their  Mohammadan  masters,  and  placed 
under  the  charge  of  his  Maratha  followers.  Emboldened 
by  these  successes,  and  enriched  by  the  plunder  of  a  con- 
•  See  book  iii.  chap.  4. 


138  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

voy  on  its  way  to  Bijapur,  ho  swooped  down  upon  the 
Kankan,  and  brought  under  his  sway  a  good  deal  of  the 
rugged  woody  lowlands  stretching  westward  from  the 
Ghats  to  the  sea.* 

At  last  the  story  of  his  exploits  found  its  way  to  the 
court  of  Bijapur.  His  father,  Shahji,  was  seized  as  a 
hostage  for  the  offending  son  ;  and  a  cniel  death  stared 
him  in  the  face,  when  Sivaji's  appeal  to  the  emperor  Shah 
Jahan  opened  the  prison  door  to  Shahji,  if  it  failed  as  yet 
to  ensure  his  perfect  fi-eedom.  Four  years  later,  when 
Shahji's  services  were  imperatively  needed  elsewhere, 
Sivaji,  by  this  time  the  eldest  of  his  father's  surviving 
sons,  began  to  renew  his  old  raids,  with  a  steadiness  of 
purpose  heightened  by  religious  zeal,  and  a  boldness  all 
the  more  successful  for  the  tiger-like  cunning  that  knew 
how  and  when  to  give  it  free  play.  A  true  Maratha  in 
that  wily  daring  and  unscrupulous  pursuit  of  a  given  end, 
which  marked  off'  his  Sudra  countrymen  from  the  high- 
souled  thorough-bred  Rajputs  of  the  north,  he  had  long 
since  gathered,  alike  from  the  folk-lore  of  his  native  hills 
and  the  religious  surroundings  of  his  boyhood,  abundant 
fuel  for  his  ambition,  and  aU  needful  sanction  for  his  most 
unscrupulous  deeds.  Patriotism  and  piety  alike  impelled 
him  on  that  path  of  conquest,  which  was  to  end  in  the  last 
great  struggle  for  empire  between  the  Mariithas  and  the 
countrymen  of  Lord  WeUesley. 

Before  the  end  of  1655  Sivaji  had  laid  violent  hands 
on  the  hill-country  as  far  south  as  Satara.  During  the 
three  years  of  Aurangzib's  viceroyalty,  the  wily  Hindu 
amused  his  powerful  rival  with  loyal  offers  which  he  took 
care  not  to  fulfil.  On  Aurangzib's  depai-ture,  Sivaji  re- 
newed his  old  game  against  Bijapiir.  An  army  sent  to 
punish  him  under  Afzul  Khan  was  lured  into  the  woody 

•  The  Ghats,  or  Siadri  Hills,  from  3,000  to  5,000  feet  high,  ran  along 
the  western  coast  of  India  from  the  Tapti  southwards,  thirty  or  forty 
miles  from  the  sea. 


AUHAI^GZIB.  139 

ravines  near  his  strong  fort  of  Partiibgarh,  where  Afzul 
himself  fell  treacherously  murdered  by  Sivaji  at  a  peaceful 
interview,  and  his  troops  were  slain  or  scattered  by  a 
sudden  onset  of  Maratha  bands. 

Next  year  the  bold  outlaw,  hard  pressed  by  his  pur- 
suers, escaped  by  a  clever  trick  from  the  fort  of  Pauiila 
after  a  close  siege  of  four  months.  For  several  months 
defeat  and  danger  dogged  his  steps.  It  was  not  in  Sivaji, 
however,  to  despair.  Fortune  once  more  smiled  on  its 
dariug  follower;  and  before  the  end  of  1662,  with  the  aid 
of  his  father,  Shahji,  he  had  won  from  the  King  of  Bijapiir 
a  peace  which  left  him  master  of  the  Kankan  from  Kalian 
to  Goa,  and  of  the  hill  country  between  the  Bima  and  the 
Kistna,  a  dominion  250  miles  long  by  nearly  100  broad. 
His  troops  at  this  time  already  numbered  7,000  horse  and 
50,000  foot. 

Freed  from  one  enemy,  Sivaji  presently  dared  the  wrath 
of  another,  by  raiding  almost  up  to  the  walls  of  Aurangabad. 
In  vain  did  Aui-angzib's  generals  bear  down  upon  the  foe, 
who  gave  way  only  to  renew  his  attacks.*  Driven  out  of 
Piina  and  shtit  up  for  a  time  in  a  neighbouring  stronghold, 
Sivaji  suddenly  burst  away  from  his  pursuers,  and  with 
4,000  light-horsemen  swooped  down  upon  Surat.  The 
English  and  Dutch  factories  beat  oif  the  invader  ;  but  the 
rich  native  city  fell  into  his  hands,  and  its  plunder  was 
safely  lodged  in  his  fort  of  Raigarh. 

The  death  of  Shahji  about  this  time  threw  into  his  son's 
hands  a  large  tract  of  country  on  the  southern  frontier  of 
Bijapiir.  Armed  with  fresh  means  for  mischief,  Sivaji 
began  to  worry  the  Moghals  by  sea.  After  capturing  many 
of  their  ships  and  taking  heavy  ransom  from  rich  pUgrims 

*  One  of  Sivajfs  most  daring  exploits  was  the  attempt  to  slp-y 
Aurangzib's  uncle,  Shaista  Khan,  who  had  taken  up  his  quarters  in 
Sivajfs  house  at  Piina,  Entering  the  house  in  di=!guise,  he  so  nearly 
effected  his  purpose,  that  Shaista  Khan  lost  two  fingers  in  getting 
away,  while  his  son  and  most  of  his  guards  were  cut  to  pieces  by 
Sivaji's  followers. 


140  HISTORY    OF    INTjIA. 

Loimd  for  Mecca,  he  sailed  at  the  head  of  a  large  fleet 
down  the  coast  to  Barsalor,  in  Elanara,  130  miles  south  of 
Goa.  Enriched  with  the  plunder  of  that  once  busy  sea- 
port, the  royal  freebooter — he  had  just  assumed  the  title 
of  rajah — made  a  fresh  inroad  into  the  Moghal  dominions. 
By  this  time,  however,  the  wrathful  emperor  had  des- 
patched a  large  army  under  Eajah  Jai  Singh  against  his 
irrepressible  foe,  who  deemed  it  best  to  purchase  present 
safety  by  surrendering  most  of  the  forts  he  had  wrested 
from  the  Moghals,  on  condition  of  holding  the  remainder 
as  a  jagir  fi-om  Aurangzib.  Another  claim  which  the 
emperor  tacitly  yielded,  Sivaji's  right  to  the  "  chauth," 
or  a  foui'th  part  of  the  Bijapiir  revenues,  became  a  fruitful 
pi'etest  for  many  a  futui'e  inroad  into  the  heart  of  the 
Moghal  empire. 

Under  the  standard  of  his  countryman  Jai  Singh,  Sivaji's 
warriors  fought  so  bravely  in  the  next  campaign  against 
Bijapiir,  that  Aurangzib  in  flattering  terms  invited  Sivaji 
himself  to  his  court.  So  little,  however,  did  the  emperor's 
treatment  of  his  new  guest,  whom  he  shghted  as  a  mere 
adventurer  and  hated  as  a  foe  to  Islam,  appear  to  tally 
with  his  former  promises,  that  Sivaji,  swaUowing  down 
his  rage  and  disappointment,  quietly  prepared  to  escape 
from  the  snares  which  his  wily  host  had  seemingly  begun 
to  weave  around  him.  His  friends  and  followers  once 
fairly  out  of  DehU,  he  himself,  in  the  dirt  and  rags  of  a 
Hindu  fakir,  made  his  way  by  bafiling  mai'ches  to  the 
Dakhan;  and,  nine  months  after  his  flight  fi-om  the  capital, 
was  safely  lodged  in  his  own  eyrie  at  Kaigarh. 

This  period,  which  also  marks  the  death  of  Shah  Jahan, 
was  perhaps  the  most  prosperous  of  Aurangzib's  long 
reign.  Little  Tibet  and  Chittagong  had  just  been  added 
to  his  dominions.  His  capital  was  thronged  with  envoys 
from  Arabia,  Persia,  Abyssinia,  and  the  Khan  of  the 
TJzbeks.  The  only  clouds  that  darkened  his  prospects 
were  the  faitoe  of  his  designs  on  Bijapiir,  and  the  re- 


AURANGZIB.  Ill 

newed  activity  of  Sivaji  himself.  Even  before  the  latter's 
return  to  Raigarh,  his  lieutenantp  bad  won  back  several  of 
their  master's  former  strongholds,  and  Sivaji  lost  no  time 
in  bettering  their  example.  Jai  Singh's  successor,  Jeswant 
Singh,  was  bribed,  or  frightened  into  making  peace  with 
his  Maratha  opponent  on  terms  which  the  emperor,  for 
his  own  purposes,  deemed  it  best  to  sanction. 

Confirmed  in  his  recent  conquests,  and  endowed  with  a 
new  domain  in  Berar,  Sivaji  turned  his  arms  against 
Bijapur  and  Golkonda  to  such  pm-pose,  that  the  rulers  of 
both  those  states  were  glad  to  buy  off  their  old  assailant 
with  the  promise  of  a  yearly  tribute.  Two  years  of  peace 
passed  by,  which  Sivaji  devoted  to  the  better  government 
of  his  various  conquests.  Great  in  peace  as  in  war,  he 
ruled  his  subjects  with  a  firm  yet  light  hand,  enforcing 
equal  justice  between  high  and  low,  choosing  his  agents 
from  the  ablest  men  in  the  land,  and  recruiting  his 
treasury  by  fair  and  regular  processes.  His  troops  were 
highly  paid  and  kept  under  the  strictest  discipline,  and  a 
weU-ordered  economy  marked  every  branch  of  the  public 
service. 

MeanwhUe  the  crafty  emperor  tried  every  art  to  lure 
into  his  hands  the  one  foe  whom  he  seems  to  have  chiefly 
dreaded.  Baffled  at  every  turn  by  the  wary  Maratha,  he 
at  length  gave  orders  for  his  forcible  seizure.  The  peace 
thus  broken,  Sivaji  at  once  forestalled  his  enemies  by  a 
series  of  well-aimed  and  telling  blows.  By  a  daring  night 
attack  a  choice  body  of  his  mountaineers  recovered  the 
strong  fort  of  Singarh,  near  Piina.  One  of  his  generals 
overran  Khandesh,  and  levied  the  chauth  on  that  province. 
He  himself  once  more  plundered  Surat,  and  Jinjera,  on 
the  Kankan  coast,  only  escaped  his  clutches  by  placing 
itself  under  the  protection  of  the  Moghals.  An  army  of 
40,000  men,  under  Mohabat  Khan,  son  of  Shah  Jaban's 
old  ally,  was  sent  against  him ;  but  half  their  number 
were  routed  in  fair  fight  by  Sivaji's  warriors,  whose  mettle 


142 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


bad  never  before  been  tried  against  tbe  Moghals  in  tlie 
open  field. 

For  several  years  the  war  in  the  Dakhan  languished, 
while  Aurangzib  was  engaged  in  a  series  of  struggles,  now 
with  the  hill  tribes  of  Afghanistan,  anon  with  Hindu 
fanatics  and  Rajput  princes  nearer  home.  Not  till  1075 
did  he  succeed  in  patching  up  a  peace  with  the  unruly 
laaibari  and  Yusufzai  borderers,  who  had  destroyed  a 
Moghal  army  five  years  before.  Next  year  the  revolt  of 
the  Satnaramis,  a  sect  of  Hindu  devotees  who  had  seized 
Narnol  and  beaten  back  the  troops  at  first  sent  against 
them,  was  quelled  with  heavy  bloodshed  and  fearful  mas- 
sacres. For  some  years  back  the  emperor  had  done  his 
worst  to  estrange  his  Hindu  subjects  by  a  series  of  attacks 
on  their  religion,  by  forbidding  the  fiu-ther  employment  of 
Hindus  in  the  public  service,  and  by  lightening  the  bur- 
dens of  the  Blohammadans  at  theii-  expense.  At  last  the 
reimposition  of  the  hated  Jiziya,  and  the  attempt  to  seize 
the  widow  and  children  of  Rajah  Jeswant  Smgh,  filled  up 
the  measure  of  his  ofi'ences,  and  relit  the  flames  of  war  in 
Rajputana. 

Overawed  by  the  emperor's  swift  movements  and  power- 
ful array,  the  Rana  of  Mewar,  or  Udaipiir,  agreed  to  a 
peaceful  compromise,  which  a  few  months  later  he  appears 
to  have  set  at  naught.  A  long  and  uncertain  struggle, 
embittered  by  mutual  hate,  by  the  inithless  ravages  of  the 
Moghals,  and  revived  by  the  defection  of  Prince  Akbar 
from  his  father's  side,  ended  in  a  peace  which  enabled 
Aurangzib  once  more  to  turn  his  whole  attention  to  the 
Dakhan.  But  the  old  ties  which  had  held  the  Rajputs 
faithful  to  the  empire  for  a  hundred  years  past  were  rent 
for  ever.  Aurangzib's  bigotry  had  undone  Akbar's  work, 
and  the  strife,  thus  hardly  allayed  by  mutual  concessions, 
blazed  up  ever  and  anon  during  the  rest  of  Aurangzib's 
stormy  reign. 

Meanwhile  Sivaji  had  not  been  idle.     The  death  of  the 


AURANGZIB.  143 

King  of  Bijapur  tempted  him  to  renew  bis  inroads  on  a 
country  ruled  by  a  weak  ministry,  in  tlie  name  of  a  child- 
heir.  Ere  long  nearly  all  the  Southern  Kankan  had  fallen 
into  his  hands.  In  June  1674,  he  had  himself  crowned 
with  all  solemnity  at  Raigarh.  Nest  year  he  was  beating 
up  the  Moghals  in  Ivhandesh,  Berar,  and  the  heart  of 
Gujarat.  A  well-planned  aUiance  with  Golkonda  opened 
the  way  for  his  long  and  successful  march  across  the 
Kistna  by  way  of  Kadapah,  Madras,  and  Jinji  to  Vellor. 
Fort  after  fort,  including  Jinji  and  Vellor,  fell  to  his  arms, 
his  father's  domains  in  Maisor  were  brought  under  his 
rule,  the  chauth  was  levied  through  the  Carnatic,  and  his 
half-brother,  Yenkaji,  had  to  pay  over  half  his  revenue  for 
the  peaceful  retention  of  Tanjor.  By  the  middle  of  1678 
Sivaji  returned  in  triumph  to  Raigarh. 

A  few  months  afterwards  Sivaji  was  on  his  way  to  help 
Bijiipiir  against  its  Moghal  assailants,  who  were  soon  com- 
pelled, by  bis  active  efforts  in  theii-  rear,  to  raise  the  siege 
of  that  city.  The  price  of  his  timely  succour  was  the 
cession  of  the  Raichor  Doab,  between  the  Tumbadra  and 
the  Kistna,  and  of  full  sovereignty  over  all  Shahji's 
domains  in  Bijapur.  In  the  very  flush  of  these  last  suc- 
cesses the  gi'eat  Mai-atha  leader  succumbed  to  a  sterner 
foe  than  any  he  had  yet  encountered.  A  mortal  illness 
carried  him  off  in  1680,  in  the  fifty-third  year  of  his  age, 
in  the  midst  of  a  career  not  often  paralleled  in  the  history 
of  any  country.  From  a  mere  leader  of  banditti  he  had 
fought  his  way  in  thirty-four  years,  twenty  of  which  had 
been  spent  in  braving  the  might  of  Aurangzib  himself,  into 
the  very  highest  rank  of  Indian  heroes,  and  the  lordship 
of  a  kingdom  strong  enough  to  survive  the  onsets,  and 
ere  long  to  break  in  pieces,  the  empire  of  the  Moghals. 


144 


CHAPTER  Xl. 

AUBANGZIB — {continued.) 

SivAji's  eldest  son,  Sambaji,  had  no  sooner  mounted  his 
father's  throne,  than  he  took  a  cruel  revenge  on  all  who 
had  favoured  the  cause  of  his  half-brother,  Kajah  Earn. 
Dissolute  as  well  as  cruel,  he  left  the  management  of 
state  affairs  to  his  worthless  favomite,  Kaliisha,  while  he 
himself  launched  out  into  all  manner  of  sensual  excesses. 
From  these  he  roused  himself  to  renew  his  father's  attacks 
upon  Jinjera ;  but  the  Sidis  or  Abyssinians,  who  held  that 
city,  forced  him  to  raise  the  siege,  defeated  his  fleet  in  the 
harbour  of  Bombay,  and  laid  waste  a  part  of  his  own 
dominions. 

He  had  not  long  returned  to  his  favourite  pleasures, 
when  the  advance  of  a  Moghal  army  under  Prince  Moaz- 
zim  called  him  again  into  the  field.  Aurangzib  himself 
was  marching  southwards  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  array 
of  horse,  foot,  and  guns,  followed  by  a  train  the  most 
magnificent  that  even  India  had  ever  seen.  The  fine 
army  which  Moazzim  led  among  the  rocks  and  forests  of 
the  Kaukan  was  so  worried  on  its  march  by  active  Ma- 
rutha  horsemen,  and  so  worn  with  hunger  and  disease, 
that  only  a  disordered  remnant  emerged  into  the  country 
eastward  of  the  Ghats.  Pi-ince  Azim  was  equally  unsuc- 
cessful in  his  first  attempt  against  Bijapiir.  'UTiile  the 
emperor  himself  in  the  following  year  was  preparing  to 
move  forward  from  Ahmadnagar,  Sambaji's  horsemen 
scoui'ed  the  country  in  his  rear,  sacked  and  homed  the 
great  city  of  Burhanpiir,  overran  Khandesh,  and  threatened 


AXJRANGZIB.  145 

Berar.  Next  year  the  same  tactics  were  employed  with 
like  snccess  against  Gujarat ;  and  Baroch,  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Xarbadha,  shared  the  fate  of  Burhanpur. 

The  emperor,  however,  was  not  to  be  lightly  turned 
aside  from  his  long-cherished  schemes  of  conquest  in 
Southern  India.  Golkonda  having  in  the  meantime  been 
heavily  punished  for  daring  to  accept  aid  from  Sambaji, 
he  led  his  troops  in  person  against  the  magnificent  capital 
of  the  Adil-Shahi  kings  of  Bijapiir.  A  strict  blockade 
forestalled  the  more  hazardous  issues  of  a  direct  assault, 
and  on  the  15th  October,  1686,  Aurangzib  was  borne 
in  triumph  over  the  breach  his  guns  had  already  made. 
Three  years  afterwards,  the  last  Pathan  king  of  Bijapiir 
died  a  prisoner  in  his  conqueror's  hands,  and  the  great 
city  which  his  sires  had  embelhshed  with  mosques  and 
palaces  of  surpassing  beauty  was  consigned  to  neglect  and 
its  fatal  follower,  decay. 

Within  a  year  after  the  fall  of  Bijapiir,  Golkonda  also 
had  succumbed  to  the  arms  and  treachery  of  Aui'angzib. 
For  seven  months  Abul  Hasan,  the  last  king  of  the  Kutab- 
Shahi  line,  defended  his  capital  with  the  courage  of 
despair ;  but  treason  fought  against  him,  and  in  Sep- 
tember, 1687,  he  too  passed  away  from  his  throne  to  a 
prison  in  the  fort  of  Daulatabad. 

No  time  was  lost  in  continuing  the  work  of  conquest  on 
which  Aurangzib  had  set  his  heart.  Before  the  end  of 
1688,  his  rule  extended  to  the  borders  of  Tanjor ;  and 
Sambaji,  steeped  in  debauchery,  saw  one  after  another  of 
his  father's  conquests  fall  away  from  his  enfeebled  grasp. 
At  length  he  himself,  in  the  midst  of  a  drunken  revel,  was 
surprised  by  a  body  of  Moghals,  and  borne  off  a  prisoner 
to  the  imperial  camp.  Offered  his  life  on  condition  of 
abjuring  his  creed,  the  proud  son  of  Sivaji  spurned  the 
bribe  in  terms  of  scornful  ridicule,  for  which  death  alone 
was  deemed  too  light  a  punishment  by  the  enraged 
Moghal.     After   his  eyes  had   been  destroyed  by  a  hot 


116  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

iron,  and  bis  tongue  cut  out  for  revOing  the  Prophet, 
he  was  at  length  beheaded  along  with  his  favouiite,  Ka- 
lusha. 

For  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  all  India  lay  helpless  at  the 
feet  of  Aurangzib.  So  wide  an  empire  had  never  been 
swayed  by  any  former  sovereign  of  Hindustan.  But  to  the 
last  his  hold  upon  the  Dakhan  remained  insecure.  Pro- 
vince after  province,  fort  after  fort,  was  wrested  from  the 
Marathas,  and  the  conquered  people  for  the  most  part 
bowed  their  necks  to  the  heavy  burdens  imposed  by  their 
new  master.  But  the  most  peaceful  among  them  chafed 
under  the  exactions  of  the  imperial  officers,  and  the  levying 
of  the  Jiziya  rankled  deep  in  the  hearts  of  the  wretched 
Hindus.  The  disbanded  soldiery  of  Bijapiir  and  Gol- 
konda  roamed  the  country  in  lawless  troops,  or  offered 
their  services  to  Maratha  leaders.  There  was  little  either 
of  peace  or  order  in  the  new  conquests.  The  spirit  of  the 
Marathas  also  remained  unbroken  by  passing  defeats. 
After  Sambaji's  death  and  the  capture  of  his  infant  son, 
his  brother,  Eajah  Rim,  upheld  the  fortunes  of  his  Kne, 
first  at  Raigarh,  and,  when  that  place  was  about  to  fall,  in 
the  remote  southern  stronghold  of  Jinji.  From  that  corner 
of  the  Carnatic  he  cheered  the  hearts  and  guided  the  move- 
ments of  the  Marathas  against  their  puzzled  foes.  His  trusty 
lieutenants  teased  the  Moghals  with  a  kind  of  partisan 
warfare,  in  which  the  latter  with  their  heavy  accoutre- 
ments and  luxurious  habits  were  no  match  for  the  little, 
hardy,  light-clad,  ubiquitous  horsemen,  whose  usual  food 
was  a  cake  of  miUet  with  now  and  then  an  onion,  who 
slept  bridle  in  hand  under  the  open  sky,  and  whose  strong, 
active,  well-trained  little  steeds  were  always  ready  for  the 
work  required  of  them.  Careful  to  avoid  a  charge  from 
the  heavy  Moghal  horse,  they  spread  in  countless  bands 
over  the  country,  plundering  every  district  which  refused 
to  buy  them  otf,  hanging  on  the  flanks  of  Moghal  armies, 
cutting  off  their  convoys,  swooping  down  upon  detached 


AUKANGZIB.  147 

bodies  of  troops,  and  never  losing  a  chance  of  doing  their 
enemies  the  greatest  possible  harm. 

To  attack  these  hornets  in  their  nests  was  a  task  which 
long  baffled  the  best  of  the  Moghal  commanders.  Not  till 
after  several  years  of  bootless  eflbrts  did  Jinji  itself  fall,  in 
1698,  into  the  hands  of  ZuMkar  Khan.  Even  then,  how- 
ever, the  bold  Rajah  Ram  renewed  the  struggle  from  his 
next  place  of  shelter  at  Satiira  on  the  Western  Ghats, 
whence  he  himself  at  the  head  of  a  great  army  carried 
his  ravages  as  far  eastward  as  Jalna,  in  Berar,  before  the 
Moghals  succeeded  in  driving  him  back.  Soon  after  his 
own  death  in  1700,  Satara  itself  with  several  other  strong- 
holds was  captured,  after  a  brave  defence,  by  the  troops  of 
the  persevering  emperor.  But  in  spite  of  frequent  re- 
verses, of  dissensions  among  themselves,  andof  Aurangzib's 
amended  plans  for  their  suppression,  the  Maratha  leaders 
rallied  again  and  again  round  the  standard  of  the  manly- 
hearted  Tara  Bhai,  who,  for  some  years,  ruled  her  people 
in  the  name  of  her  late  husband's  heir,  the  boy  Sivaji. 

For  the  next  few  years  Aurangzib  tried  hard  to  crush 
his  daring  foes  in  the  Dakhan.  But  for  every  fort  he  took 
he  paid  heavily  with  the  hves  of  his  own  men ;  fresh 
swarms  of  Marathas  worried  him  at  every  turn ;  floods, 
famines,  and  deadly  fevers  weakened  his  resources  or  slew 
his  troops.  The  untamable  Rajputs  of  Mewar  and  the 
rebellious  Jats  of  Bhartpiir  kept  drawing  his  attention 
beyond  the  Xarbadha,  while  a  large  force  was  sent  against 
the  Sikh  insurgents  near  Miiltan.  His  own  troops  began 
to  mutiny  for  want  of  regular  pay  from  his  failing  treasury. 
The  Marathas  in  the  meantime  began  to  recover  their  lost 
forts  ;  were  ere  long  pouring  into  Malwa,  and  carrying  fire 
and  sword  through  Gujarat.  They  hovered  like  flies 
about  the  grand  army  which  Aurangzib  himself  had  once 
more  led  against  them ;  they  derided  his  very  overtures 
for  peace  ;  and  worse  and  ever  worse  shame  and  disaster 
dogged  his  final  retreat  to  Ahmadnagar,  whence  he  had 
L  2 


148  mSTOBY    OF    INDIA. 

marcbed  out  twenty  years  before  in  all  the  pomp  and 
glory  of  another  Xerxes. 

A  few  months  later  the  aged  emperor  breathed  his 
last  in  the  city  which  sheltered  the  wrecks  of  his  beaten 
army,  after  a  reign  of  forty-nine,  and  a  life  of  more  than 
eighty-eight  years.  To  the  last  he  seems  to  have  retained 
all  tiie  mental  and  much  of  the  bodily  vigour  which 
marked  his  prime,  and  won  him  a  foremost  place  among 
the  princes  of  his  own  dynasty.  His  close  attention  to 
the  smallest  details  of  government  may  have  been  sharpened 
by  his  habitual  distrust  of  all  around  him  ;  but,  in  spite  of 
the  evils  caused  by  his  suspicious  temper  and  narrow 
religious  zeal,  his  people  on  the  whole  were  well  governed 
and  lightly  taxed.*  One  of  his  edicts  forbade  the  raising  of 
the  land-rents  on  those  who  had  improved  their  farms  at 
their  own  expense.  In  anything  that  concerned  the 
public  welfare,  from  the  tillage  of  the  soil  to  the  daily 
hearing  of  causes  in  the  Hall  of  Audience,  from  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  clerk  to  the  supervision  of  a  great  province, 
he  displayed  a  keen  and  enlightened  interest.  His  sense 
of  justice  failed  him  only  when  bigotry  or  personal  am- 
bition clouded  his  mental  view.  Merciless  to  his  be- 
trayed or  defeated  brethren,  he  pardoned  and  employed 
their  followers,  set  his  face  as  a  rule  against  savage  or 
severe  punishments,  and  dealt  mildly  with  all  offences  that 
touched  neither  his  power  nor  his  reHgion. 

Of  courtly  manners,  great  personal  courage,  varied 
accomplishments,  and  some  military  skill,  Aurangzib  failed 
to  win  the  love  of  his  own  children,  or  the  zealous  co- 

*  His  revenue  from  all  sources  has  been  reckoned,  wkh  seeming 
accuracy,  at  seventy  to  eighty  millions  sterling,  at  the  rate  of  t^yo 
shillings  the  rupee.  His  land-revenue  alone  amounted  to  thirty-four 
and  a-half  millions  nett,  about  double  that  of  Akbar's  latter  years. 
and  twelve  millions  higher  than  that  raised  by  Shah  Jahan.  His  total 
revenue  exceeded  that  of  Jahangi'r  by  about  thirty  millions.  These 
vast  sums,  equal  then  to  about  twice  their  present  value,  appear  to 
have  been  collected  with  little  effort. 


AUKANGZIB.  149 

operation  of  his  chief  officers.  Never  was  a  prince  of  his 
intellectual  mark  so  often  cheated  or  so  badly  served.* 
His  best-planned  enterprises  were  marred  by  the  fruits  of 
his  fatally  suspicious  temper.  Trusting  no  one,  he  was 
trusted  in  his  turn  by  none.  His  son  Moazzim  he  kept  in 
prison  for  seven  years.  His  favourite  son,  Akbar,  joined 
in  succession  the  standards  of  his  Rajput  and  Maratha 
foes.  Axiother  son,  Kambakhsh,  was  placed  in  arrest  on 
a  groundless  charge  of  plotting  with  the  Marathas.  His 
ablest  surviving  general,  Zulfikar  Khan,  was  driven  by  his 
worrying  treatment  to  the  verge  of  open  rebeUion.  Even 
Prince  Azim,  best  beloved  of  his  sons  after  Akbar's  de- 
fection, saw  only  treachery  in  his  father's  earnest-seeming 
efforts  to  retain  his  love. 

Craft  and  cunning,  indeed,  were  Anrangzib's  favourite 
weapons  alike  in  the  council  and  the  field.  "  To  succeed 
by  art,"  says  one  historian,}  "threw  honour  upon  him- 
self; to  subdue  by  power  acquired  to  others  fame."  This 
preference  for  crooked  ways  may  even  have  gained  strength 
in  such  a  nature  from  the  undoubted  warmth  of  his 
religious  zeal.  Hypocrisy  and  devoutness  often  go  to- 
gether, and  the  true  key  to  his  conduct  may  be  found,  we 
think,  in  the  bigotry  which  brought  Prince  Dara  to  a  cruel 
end.  which  estranged  the  hearts  of  the  emperor's  Hindu 
subjects,  sanctioned  the  use  of  treachery  agumst  foes  of  a 
different  creed,  and  blinded  him  to  the  fatal  folly  of  crush- 
ing the  old  Mohammadan  princes  of  the  Dakhan  instead 
of  helping  them  to  put  down  the  rising  Maratha  power.  J 

•  Elphinstone's  "  India,"  book  xi  chap.  4. 

t  Don-'s  "  Hindostan,"  vol.  iii. 

J  The  kings  of  Bijdpur  and  Golkonda  belonged,  Like  the  Persians, 
to  the  Shid  sect  of  Mohammadans,  who  acknowledge  and  almost 
worship  Ali  as  the  tme  encceesor  to  his  father-in-law  Mahomet  in  the 
leadership  of  the  faithful,  and  as  the  first  of  the  twelve  Imams  or  Pontiffs 
of  his  line.  Anrangzib,  like  his  forefathers  and  the  bnlk  of  Indian  Mus- 
sulmans in  these  days,  was  a  Sunni  Mohammadan,  one  of  those  who 
ignore  All's  murdered  son  Hose'n  as  a  tme  Khah'f.  To  this  sect  belong 
the  Turks  of  the  Turkish  Empire. 


150  mSTOBY    OF    INDIA. 

A  scholar  and  a  poet,  he  banished  poets  from  his  court, 
abolished  the  office  of  royal  historiographer,  issued  edicts 
against  music  and  dancing,  and  turned  every  singer  and 
musician  out  of  the  palace  precincts.  If  his  private  monds 
were  in  keeping  with  the  austere  bent  of  his  religious 
habits,  he  succeeded  in  uprooting  the  last  traces  of  that 
wise  and  generous  policy  on  which  Akbar  had  sought  to 
lay  fast  the  foundations  of  the  Moghal  rule.  If  he  neither 
drank,  gambled,  nor  dallied  with  other  than  his  lawl'ul 
wives,  he  restored  the  old  lunar  year  of  the  Moham- 
madans,  maddened  the  Hindus  with  all  kinds  of  petty 
persecutions,  placed  new  weapons  in  the  hands  of  his 
llaratha  foes,  and  paved  the  way  for  the  disruption  of 
that  broad  empire  which  his  own  arms  had  helped  to 
build  up. 

Two  years  after  Aurangzib's  accession  Charles  11. 
mounted  the  throne  of  England.  Among  his  first  acts 
was  the  granting  of  a  charter  to  the  united  East  India 
Company,  empowering  them  to  make  peace  and  war  with 
the  natives  of  India,  to  administer  justice,  and  to  expel 
interlopers  from  their  ground.  A  year  later,  in  1662,  the 
island  of  Bombay,  with  its  noble  harbour,  formed  part  of 
the  dowi-y  which  the  Princess  Catherine  of  Braganza 
brought  over  to  her  EngHsh  husband.  After  six  years  of 
profitless  possession  Charles  II.  transferred  the  island  to 
the  East  India  Company,  under  whose  sway  it  was  destined 
to  become  the  fitting  capital  of  Western  India,  and  the 
seat  of  a  trade  exceeding  thirty  milliong  sterling.  In  1676 
the  Company  were  allowed  to  set  up  a  mint  in  their  new 
possession,  which  had  already  been  successfully  defended 
against  the  Dutch.  Nine  years  afterwards  it  displaced 
Surat  as  their  chief  station  in  the  East  Indies  and  the 
seat  of  the  Western  Presidency.  In  1686  the  President 
of  Bombay  was  declared  Governor- General  of  India.  By 
that  time  ships  of  all  nations  had  begun  to  anchor  in  the 
harbour  of  his  new  capital,   and  the   Company's  Indian 


AURANGZIB.  151 

trade  bad  risen  to  a  hundred  laklis  of  nipees,  or  more 
than  a  milHon  sterling. 

Meanwhile,  in  Bengal  things  had  not  gone  smoothly 
between  the  English  and  the  Moghals.  With  the  French, 
Dutch,  and  Danish  factories  on  the  Hiighli,  the  English 
agents  had  no  cause  of  quarrel.  But  the  alleged  exactions 
of  the  Moghals,  and  their  Viceroy'B  refusal  to  let  the 
English  Company's  servants  fortify  the  mouth  of  the 
Hiighli  against  interlopers  from  England,  provoked  or 
became  the  pretext  for  a  hostile  movement  against  the 
masters  of  Bengal.  In  168G  an  English  fleet  sailed  up 
the  Hughli,  on  its  way  to  Chittagong.  A  quarrel  between 
some  English  soldiers  and  the  native  police  brought  on  a 
regular  engagement,  in  which  the  natives  were  worsted. 
The  Enghsh  admiral  opened  fire  on  the  town  of  Hughli. 
An  attempt  to  treat  on  the  part  of  the  Nawab  of  Bengal 
came  to  nothing.  At  last  Job  Chamook,  the  chief  of  the 
English  factory,  withdrew  to  Chatanatti,  the  future  site  of 
the  city  which  has  since  become  the  chief  seat  of  the 
English  power  in  India. 

Followed  thither  by  the  Nawab's  army,  Chamock  led 
his  followers  to  the  swamps  of  Hijali,  an  island  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Hughli.  Here  in  the  next  few  months  half 
of  his  little  garrison  had  perished  from  disease,  and  the 
rest  were  far  on  the  road  to  a  like  issue,  when  matters 
began  to  take  a  more  hopeful  turn.  Chamock  was  allowed 
to  re-enter  Chatanatti,  and  peace  was  all  but  re-established 
on  the  old  footing ;  but  Captain  Heath,  who  had  just 
arrived  with  a  fresh  fleet  from  England,  disallowed  the 
treaty,  and  Charnock,  with  all  his  countrjTnen  in  Bengal, 
sailed  down  the  Hughli  for  Madras.  On  its  way  thither 
the  English  fleet  bombarded  Balasor,  and  tried  in  vain  to 
effect  a  landing  at  Chittagong. 

Meanwhile,  on  the  western  side  of  India  the  Company 
had  not  gained  much  by  the  aggressive  policy  which  its 
chairman,  Sk  Josiah  Child,  thought  fit  to  pursue.     The 


152  HISTORY    OP    IKDIA. 

seizure  of  pilgrim  ships  on  their  way  to  Mecca  was  requited 
by  the  capture  of  the  English  factory  at  Surat,  by  a  par- 
tially successful  attack  upon  Bombay,  and  by  the  expulsion 
of  the  English  from  nearly  all  their  settlements  in  Southern 
India.  At  last,  in  1690,  the  Governor  of  Bombay  was 
glad  to  renew  the  peace  so  rashly  broken.  His  envoys 
returned  from  Bijapiir  with  concessions  easily  granted  by 
an  emperor  fully  alive  to  the  benefits  of  a  growing  trade 
with  the  foreigner  ;  and  Charnock  once  more  sailed  up 
the  Hughli  to  hoist  his  country's  flag  in  the  httle  hamlet 
of  Chatanatti. 

In  1695,  three  years  after  the  death  of  Charnock,*  his 
successor  bought  from  the  Moghals  the  three  villages 
of  Chatanatti,  Govindpiir,  and  Calcutta,  out  of  which  the 
modem  Calcutta  was  to  arise.  To  fortify  their  new  pos- 
session was  now  the  first  thought  of  its  owners,  whose 
dreams  of  empire  had  already  begun  to  mould  their  general 
policy,  and  whose  agents  had  some  years  before  been 
exhorted  to  look  after  the  increase  of  then-  revenue  at 
least  as  carefully  as  the  growth  of  their  trade,  t  It  was 
not  long  before  their  wish  was  gratified.  During  the 
height  of  a  rebellion  led  by  one  of  the  old  Pathan  chiefs  of 
Orissa,  the  French,  Dutch,  and  English  merchants  on  the 
Hughli  got  leave  from  the  hard-pressed  governor  of 
Bengal  to  put  their  several  factories  in  a  state  of  defence. 
Fortified  works  sprang  up  accordingly  ai-ound  the  new 
settlement  of  Calcutta,  and  the  flag  of  England  was  soon 
floating  above  the  ramparts  of  Fort  William,  so  called  in 
honour  of  WiUiam  III. 

*  He  was  buried  at  Barrackpore,  which  the  natives  still  call  after 
him  "  Achanak." 

t  "  The  increase  of  our  revenue,"  wrote  the  Directors  in  1689,  "is  the 
subject  of  our  care  as  much  as  our  trade;  'tis  that  must  maintain  our 
force  when  twenty  accidents  may  interrupt  our  trade  ;  'tis  that  must 
make  us  a  nation  in  India ;  without  that  we  are  but  as  a  great  number 
of  interlopers,  united  by  His  Majesty's  charter,  fit  only  to  trade  where 
nobody  of  power  thinks  it  their  interest  to  oppose  us." 


AUBANGZIB.  153 

In  the  second  year  of  the  18th  century,  another  success 
— if  the  triumph  of  a  monopoly  may  he  so  considered — 
befel  the  Company  in  its  contest  with  younger  rivals. 
For  years  past  a  host  of  "  interlopers,"  hcensed  and  un- 
licensed, had  vexed  the  souls  of  the  old  chartered  mer- 
chants by  glutting  the  home  markets  yriih  goods  not 
seldom  won  by  deeds  of  sheer  piracy.  The  agents  of 
rival  companies  intrigued  against  each  other  at  home  and 
abroad,  their  quarrels  sometimes  bursting  into  open  war- 
fare, while  pirates  like  Captain  Kidd*  preyed  impartially 
on  aU  ships  coming  from  India.  At  length  the  mfluence 
of  the  oldest  company  prevailed  with  the  EngUsh  Pailia- 
ment  to  put  an  end  to  a  rivalry  so  fraught  with  evU  or 
unpleasant  issues.  In  1702  the  chief  of  the  rival  com- 
panies were  joined  by  royal  charter  into  one  "  United 
Company  of  Merchants  trading  to  the  East."  A  few  years 
later  Calcutta  itself,  imder  the  name  of  Fort  WiUiam, 
became  the  seat  of  a  new  presidency.  At  this  time,  and 
for  many  years  afterwards,  the  Company's  servants,  from 
the  president  to  the  lowest  clerk,  were  free  to  eke  out 
their  small  salaries  with  the  profits  which  could  then  be 
gleaned  from  theu-  private  trade  ;  profits  so  handsome,  that 
ere  long  even  the  junior  servants  could  sit  down  to  dinner 
with  music  playing,  and  ride  out  in  a  carriage  and  four.t 

*  WUliam  Kidd,  by  birth  a  New-Yorker,  had  been  sent  out  by 
"William  III.  to  cruise  against  pirates  ;  but  ere  long  ttirned  pirate  him- 
self. At  last  he  was  captured,  tried  in  England  for  murder,  and 
hanged. 

t  The  president's  salary  was  then  fixed  at  £300  a-year,  while  his 
eight  members  of  council  drew  £40,  the  junior  merchants  £30,  the 
factors  £15,  and  the  writers  £5  a-year. 


154 


CHAPTER  Vn. 

SUCCESSORS    OF    AURANGZIB 1707-1740. 

In  the  will  he  left  behind  him,  Aurangzib  had  assigned 
the  northern  half  of  his  wide  dominions  to  his  eldest  son, 
Moazzim,  with  the  title  of  emperor,  and  DehH  for  his 
capital.  Of  the  remainder,  Azim  was  to  rule  from  Agra 
aU  but  the  kingdoms  of  Bijapiir  and  Golkonda,  which  were 
reserved  for  Kambakhsh.  Prince  Azim,  however,  took 
advantage  of  his  brother's  absence  in  Kabul  to  assume 
the  sovereignty  of  aU  India.  But  it  was  not  long  before 
his  pretensions  and  his  life  were  put  out  together  in  a 
bloody  battle  fought  near  Agra  between  him  and  Prince 
Moazzim.  The  subsequent  defeat  and  death  of  his  youngest 
brother,  Kambakhsh,  freed  Moazzim  from  all  present 
rivals,  and  left  him,  in  fact  as  well  as  name,  sole  head  of 
the  Moghal  empire,  under  the  title  of  Bahadur  Shah. 

In  the  last-named  victory,  won  at  Haidaxabad,  a  body 
of  Marathas  fought  on  the  conqueror's  side,  in  fulfilment 
of  a  pledge  obtained  from  Saho,  Sambaji's  lineal  heir,  on 
his  release  from  the  long,  if  mild,  captivity  enforced  by 
the  politic  Aurangzib.  Saho's  gratitude  to  the  Moghals 
seems  to  have  survived  the  fall  of  Prince  Azim,  who  had 
been  first  to  set  him  free.  At  any  rate,  he  transferred  his 
services  to  Bahadur  Shah,  whose  help  enabled  him  to  set 
up  at  Sat;ira  a  rival  sway  to  that  of  the  regent  Tara  Bhui. 
A  further  treaty  empowered  him  to  receive  the  chauth  in 
the  name  of  the  new  emperor,  through  the  hands  of 
Moghal  officers  alone. 

Freed  from  anxiety  on  the  side  of  the  Marathas,  the 
emperor  turned  his  arms  against  the  refractory  princes  of 


SUCCESSORS    OF   AURAJJGZIB.  155 

Manvar  and  Jaipur.  Ere  long,  however,  a  new  source  of 
trouble  drew  his  attention  away  from  Kajputana  to  Sirhind. 
Granting  the  Rajput  chiefs  almost  as  easy  terms  as  the 
Rana  of  Udaipiir  had  won  already,  Bahadur  Shah  hastened 
to  check  the  growing  boldness  of  the  Sikhs,  who,  early  in 
the  17th  century,  had  been  driven  by  Moslem  bigotry  to 
employ  worldly  weapons  in  aid  of  the  rehgious  movement 
begun  by  Xanak  more  than  a  century  before.*  In  the 
days  of  Guru  Govind,  the  tenth  high  priest  in  succession 
to  Nanak,  and  grandson  of  Har  Govind,  who  had  taken  np 
arms  to  avenge  his  father's  murder,  the  process  of  develop- 
ment, so  common  in  like  cases,  from  a  body  of  rehgious 
reformers  into  a  nation  of  armed  fanatics  had  well-nigh 
become  complete.  From  the  highlands  of  the  Panjab  the 
Sikh  wan-iors  issued  to  try  their  strength  anew  against 
their  Mohammadan  persecutors,  but  in  vain.  After  a 
long  struggle  with  Aurangzib's  soldiers.  Gum  Govind 
became  a  lonely  wanderer  in  the  Dakhan,  and  fell  at  last 
by  the  hand  of  a  private  foe  near  the  monastery  he  had 
founded  at  Nander. 

To  his  old  followers,  however,  remained  a  legacy  of 
hatred  and  revenge,  which  a  new  leader,  named  Bandu, 
turned  ere  long  to  memorable  account.  Once  more  the 
Sikhs  broke  out  from  their  highland  shelter,  to  ravage 
Sirhind  with  fire  and  sword,  and  to  repay,  in  the  slaughter 
of  mullahs  and  the  destruction  of  mosques,  the  wrongs 
and  insults  which  they  and  their  fathers  had  suffered  at 
Moslem  hands.  At  length  the  emperor  himself  went  forth 
to  confront  the  danger  which  his  officers  on  the  spot  had 
failed  to  put  down.  The  Sikhs  were  driven  back  into  the 
bills,  and  Bandu  himself  had  a  narrow  escape  from  cap- 
ture in  the  stronghold  whose  fall,  after  a  brave  resistance, 
closed  for  that  year  a  bootless  struggle  against  overpower- 
ing odds. 

A  few  months  afterwards  the  emperor  himself  died  at 

*  See  book  i,  chap.  2 


156  HISTORY    OF    INDU. 

Labor,  in  the  fifth  year  of  his  reign  and  the  seventieth  of 
his  age.  With  him  the  glory  of  the  house  of  Babar  may 
be  said  to  have  departed.  A  fight  for  empire  between  his 
sons  ended  in  the  triumph  of  the  eldest,  Jahiindar  Shah, 
a  worthless  debauchee,  who  began  by  slaying  all  his 
nearest  kinsmen,  and,  after  six  months  of  costly  dalliance 
with  fiddlers  and  mistresses,  perished  in  his  turn  at  the 
hands  of  his  nephew,  Farokhsir.  Installed  as  emperor  at 
Dehh  by  the  arms  of  two  Saiyid*  brothers,  Hosen  Ali  and 
Abdullah  Khan,  that  nephew  began  his  reign  with  the 
murder  of  Aurangzib's  great  general,  Zulfikar  Khan,  the 
last  emperor's  able  but  overweening  vizier. 

After  a  few  more  murders,  Farokhsir  proceeded  to  abet 
some  new  favourites  in  plotting  mischief  against  his  Saiyid 
benefactors.  Ajit  Singh,  the  Rajah  of  Marwar,  was  secretly 
encouraged  to  hold  out  to  the  last  against  Hosen  Ali,  who 
had  been  sent  to  subdue  him.  This  plot  baffled  by  the 
Rajah's  timely  acceptance  of  the  peace  oflered  by  his  oppo- 
nent on  liberal  terms,  the  emperor  next  schemed  to  get 
rid  of  his  powerful  servant  by  making  him  viceroy  of  the 
Dakhan,  in  the  room  of  Daiid  Khan.  The  latter,  too  faith- 
fully obeying  his  secret  ordere  fi-om  Dehh,  fell  fighting  at 
the  head  of  his  troops  on  the  field  which  they  for  a 
moment  had  nearly  won. 

The  same  arts  were  employed  by  the  emperor  in  the 
war  which  Hosen  Ah  had  to  take  up  against  the  Marathas. 
Once  more,  however,  the  wary  Saiyid  trumped  his  master's 
hand  by  concluding  peace  with  Rajah  Saho  and  his  able 
minister,  Btilaji  Vishwanath — a  peace  which  left  them 
masters  of  all  Sivaji's  former  conquests  in  Southern 
India,  and  acknowledged  the  Maratha  claim  to  chauth 
upon  the  whole  of  the  Dakhan.  Saho's  rival,  Sambaji, 
the  son  of  Tara  Bhai,  was  also  acknowledged  as  Rajah  of 
Kolapiir.     For  these  concessions,  Saho  agreed  to  pay  a 

*  They  were  sprung  from  a  family  of  descendants  of  Mahomet  who 
bad  settled  in  the  town  of  Bara. 


SUCCESSOES    OF   AURANGZIB.  157 

yearly  tribute,  and  to  furnish  for  the  emperor's  service  a 
body  of  15,000  horse. 

Meanwhile  Bandu,  the  Sikh  leader,  had  once  more  led 
his  armed  fanatics  into  the  plains  between  the  Satlaj  and 
the  Jamna.  In  the  midst,  however,  of  their  destroying 
career,  they  were  checked,  routed,  scattered,  hunted  down 
by  the  victorious  Moghals.  Hundreds  of  their  leading 
men  were  borne  in  triumph  through  the  streets  of  Dehli, 
to  the  place  where  each  in  turn  was  beheaded,  scorning  to 
save  his  life  by  changing  his  creed.  Bandu  himself,  after 
seeing  his  own  child  butchered  before  his  eyes,  was  torn 
to  pieces  with  hot  pincers,  exulting  in  the  midst  of  his 
tortures  at  the  vengeance  which  heaven  at  his  hands  had 
wreaked  upon  the  wicked. 

Unwarned  by  past  failures,  Farokhsir  renewed  his  plot- 
tings  against  the  Saiyids,  one  of  whom,  Abdullah,  held 
the  post  of  grand  vizier.  Some  of  his  chief  nobles  would 
gladly  have  helped  him  to  get  rid  of  the  two  men  whose 
greatness  echpsed  their  own  ;  but  the  emperor's  wavering 
pohey  broke  up  the  league,  and  while  he  was  yet  dallying 
with  a  new  favourite,  Hosen  Ali,  with  10,000  Maratha 
horse,  marched  up  from  the  Dakhan  to  his  brother's 
rescue.  The  frightened  emperor  soon  found  himself  at 
the  mercy  of  men  who  had  small  reason  to  show  him  any. 
A  tumult  in  the  streets  of  Dehli  sealed  his  fate.  Dragged 
from  his  hiding-place  to  a  prison,  he  was  ere  long  put  to 
death  ;  two  of  his  young  kinsmen,  raised  in  turn  to  the 
throne,  died  of  consumption  in  the  com'se  of  a  few  months ; 
but  at  last  a  healthier  successor  turned  up  in  Prince  Eoshan 
Akhtar,  who  took  the  name  of  Mohammad  Shah. 

The  new  reign  began  stormily.  Kisings  in  Allahabad, 
the  Panjab,  and  elsewhere,  might  be  quelled  with  small 
trouble  by  force  or  cunning  ;  Chin  Kilich  Khan,  the 
future  Nizam  of  the  Dakhan,  was  not  so  easily  put  down. 
Of  a  good  Turkish  family,  the  son  of  a  favourite  oiBcer  of 
Am-angzib,  he  himself  had  risen  under  the  same  emperor 


158  HISTORY    OF    1.ND1A. 

to  bigh  military  command  in  the  Daklian,  with  the  dis- 
tinctive titles  of  Asof  Jah  and  Nizam-ul-Mulk.  As  go- 
vernor of  the  Dakhan  for  a  few  months  after  the  death  of 
Zultikar  Khan,  he  held  the  Marathas  in  check  until  Hosen 
Ali  came  to  supplant  him.  Transferred  to  the  gOTernment 
of  Malwa,  Chin  Kilich  waited  for  the  moment  when  his 
turn  might  come  to  triumph  over  the  hateful  Saiyid  pair, 
whose  influence  at  court  still  worked  unfavourably  for  bis 
own  ambitious  ends. 

It  was  not  long  that  be  bad  to  wait.  By  the  middle  of 
1720  he  had  crossed  the  Narbadha,  planted  bis  standard 
on  the  fort  of  Asirghar,  and  defeated  an  army  sent  against 
him  near  Burhanpiir.  Another  victory  at  Ballapur  in  Berar 
brought  Hosiin  Ali  himself  into  the  field.  On  his  march 
southwards,  however,  the  Saiyid  fell  by  an  assassin's  dag- 
ger ;  his  brother  Abdullah,  defeated  in  battle  by  the 
emperor  be  sought  to  dethrone,  remained  a  prisoner  in 
the  hands  of  Mohammad  Shah  ;  and  ere  long  Chin  Kilich 
Khan,  already  master  of  the  Dakhan,  re-entered  Dehli  as 
vizier. 

But  the  pleasure-loving  emperor  and  his  dissolute  friends 
soon  tired  of  the  company  of  the  grave  old  statesman  to 
whom  they  chiefly  owed  their  deliverance  from  the  Saivid 
yoke.  They  sent  him  to  displace  the  governor  of  Gujarat, 
who  forthwith  took  up  arms  in  bis  own  defence.  Chin 
Kihch  put  down  the  rebellion  and  added  Gujarat  also  to 
his  rule.  His  return  to  DehH  exposed  him  to  fresh  em- 
broilments with  the  court.  At  length  he  threw  up  his 
post  and  retired  to  the  Dakhan,  where  Mobariz  Khan, 
governor  of  Haidarabad,  was  secretly  encouraged  to  with- 
stand him.  Once  more  the  arts  of  the  Dehli  cabal  were 
foiled  by  the  defeat  and  death  of  their  new  tool ;  and  their 
intended  victim  was  free  to  fix  at  Haidarabad  the  seat 
of  a  sovereignty  which  bis  successors  have  wielded  to  this 
hour.  It  is  true  that  he  covered  the  seizure  of  indepen- 
dent power  by   occasional  gifts    to  bis  lord    paramount ; 


SUCCESSORS  OF  AURANGZIB.  159 

but    the    dismemberment    of    the    empire   had    akeady 
begim. 

It  began  indeed  three  years  earlier,  when  Ajit  Singh, 
the  Kana  of  Mai'war  or  Jodpur,  made  up  for  his  expul- 
sion from  Gujarat  by  wresting  the  Rajput  province  of 
Ajmir  from  the  Moghals.  If  the  Jats  of  Bhartpiir  were 
once  more  quelled  by  the  loyal  Rajah  Jai  Singh  of  Amber, 
more  worthily  remembered  for  his  great  love  of  science 
than  for  his  success  as  a  niler,*  theMarathas  were  already 
gaining  ground  in  Malwa  and  Gujarat.  On  the  death  of 
King  Siiho's  able  Peshwa,  Balaji  Vishwanath,  in  1720, 
the  sceptre  he  had  wielded  in  the  name  of  his  puppet 
sovereign  passed  into  the  strong  hands  of  his  yet  abler 
son,  Baji  Rao.  With  a  keen  eye  for  the  inward  weakness 
of  the  Moghal  empu-e,  the  new  Peshwa  soon  carried  the 
Maratha  arms  across  the  Nai'badha.  "  Let  us  strike," 
he  said,  "  the  withered  trunk,  and  the  branches  wlU  fall 
of  themselves."  His  troops  ravaged  Malwa  and  levied 
chauth  in  Gujarat.  Chin  IvQich  Khan  himself  bad  to  back 
out  of  his  craftily  planned  alliance  with  the  rival  Maratha 
house  of  Kolapiir.  The  head  of  that  house.  Samba,  was 
forced  to  acknowledge  Saho's  right  to  all  the  Maratha 
country  except  that  which  immediately  surrounded  his 
own  capital.  A  great  Maratha  chief,  Dabari,  who  took 
up  arms  to  depose  the  Peshwa,  was  himself  defeated  and 
slain  by  his  skilful  opponent,  and  Gujarat  itself  lay  help- 
less at-  the  conqueror's  feet.  Pilaji  Gaikwar,  whose  de- 
scendants still  reign  at  Baroda,  was  set  to  govern  the 
conquered  province  in  the  name  of  Dabari's  infant  son. 
Two  of  Biiji  Rao's  lieutenants,  Malhar  Rao  Holkar  and 
Ranaji  Sindia,  founders  of  still  existing  dynasties  at  Indor 
and  Gwalior,  were  already  engaged  in  the  work  of  wrest- 

*  Jai  Singh,  Rajah  of  Dhundar,  a  descendant  of  Akbar's  friend  and 
Jahangir's  father-in-law,  Bhagwandaa,  was  the  greatest  Hindu  asti'o- 
nomer  since  Aryabhata.  He  erected  observatories  at  Dehli,  Mattra, 
Banaras,  Ujain,  and  Jaipur,  his  new  capital,  fomided  by  him  in  1728. 
From  him  is  descended  the  present  dynasty  of  Jaipur. 


160  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

ing  Miilwa  from  the  Moghals.  In  vain  did  the  wily  master 
of  Haidarabad  renew  his  old  intrigues  against  his  formid- 
able neighbours.  Loyalty  to  a  tottering  throne,  filled  by 
an  ungrateful  sovereign,  formed  no  part  of  his  political 
creed,  nor  bad  old  age  diminished  his  habitual  caution.  A 
compact  formed  between  him  and  the  Marathas  in  1731 
left  the  latter  free  to  push  their  conquests  north  of  the 
Narbadha,  so  long  as  they  forbore  from  harrying  the  sub- 
jects of  the  Nizam-ul-Mulk. 

The  murder  of  PUaji  Gaikwar  by  the  patricide  son  of 
Ajit  Singh  brought  fresh  swarms  of  Marathas  into  Gujarat. 
Driven  out  of  the  province  he  had  hoped  to  reconquer  for 
the  Moghals,  Abhi  Singh,  the  murderer,  retired  into  his 
own  country.  Ere  long  Malwa  also  was  quietly  surren- 
dered by  its  governor,  Jai  Singh,  into  the  hands  of  Saho's 
Peshwa.  Grateful  for  help  received  from  that  quarter,  the 
Rajah  of  Bundalkhand  had  meanwhile  placed  the  Marathas 
in  possession  of  his  own  domains  around  Jliansi,  on  the 
Jamna. 

StOl  hungering  for  fresh  conquests,  the  daring  Brahman 
kept  making  fresh  demands  on  the  emperor,  who  for  some 
time  could  see  no  escape  from  further  aminyance  save  in 
concessions  which  only  whetted  the  greed  of  his  insatiable 
foes.  At  length  Chin  Kilich,  repenting  of  his  recent 
quietude,  came  forward  to  the  rescue  of  his  nominal 
master;  while  Sadat  Khan,  the  Persian  nawab  or  governor 
of  Audh,  marched  forth  to  defend  the  empire  on  its  north- 
eastern side.  In  spite  of  the  check  which  Holkar's  hght 
horse  received  from  the  Nawab  on  their  raid  towards  Agra, 
Baji  Rao  determined  to  show  the  emperor  that  he  was  still 
in  Hindustan.  Passing  round  the  flank  of  a  Moghal  army 
encamped  near  Mattra,  his  swift-moving  squadrons  suddenly 
appeared  before  the  gates  of  Dehli  itself.  After  plundering 
the  suburbs,  beating  back  a  sally  fi'om  the  city  walls,  and 
filhng  the  citizens  with  utter  dismay,  they  rode  off  again 
for    the    Daklian,   laden   with    rich   spoils,    before   Chin 


SUCCESSORS    OF    AURANGZIB.  161 

Kilich,  the   emperor's  new  vizier,  had  time  to  intercept 
them. 

In  the  first  days  of  the  next  year  the  aged  ruler  of  the 
Dakhan,  at  the  head  of  the  strong  and  well-appointed 
army  which  he  had  led  forth  from  Dehli,  awaited  near 
Bopal,  on  the  Malwa  border,  the  approach  of  Baji  Kao. 
But  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks  his  own  position  in  the 
midst  of  active  foes,  who  laid  waste  the  country,  cut  off 
his  suppUes,  and  assailed  his  outposts,  became  so  perilous, 
that  he  could  neither  advance  nor  reti'eat  without  heavy 
loss.  Attempting  the  latter  alternative,  he  was  soon  com- 
pelled to  save  himself  from  worse  misfortunes  by  a  treaty 
which  assigned  to  the  Peshwa  the  whole  of  the  country 
between  the  Cbambal  and  the  Narbadha,  besides  pledging 
the  emperor  to  the  payment  of  fifty  lakhs  of  rupees,  or 
half-a-milHon  sterling  of  our  money. 

But  a  yet  more  cruel  blow  was  now  impending  over  the 
Moghal  power.  In  1722  Hosen  Shah,  the  last  of  the 
Safavi  kings  of  Persia,  laid  his  crown  at  the  feet  of 
Mahmud,  the  Khilji  chief  of  Kandahar,  whose  victorious 
Afghans  had  for  sis  months  been  closely  besieging  the 
Persian  monarch  in  his  own  capital  of  Isfahan.  On  the 
death  of  Mahmud  two  years  afterwards,  the  crown  thus  won 
by  him  at  the  sword's  point  devolved  upon  his  nephew  Ash- 
raf,  whose  wars  with  the  Turks  and  Kussians  were  followed 
by  a  sharper  struggle  with  an  enemy  nearer  home.  His  new 
assailant.  Nadir  Kiili,  was  the  son  of  a  Turkish  shepherd 
in  Khorasan.  Beginning,  like  Sivaji,  as  a  robber  chief,  he 
won  his  way  to  the  leadership  of  an  army  which  delivered  his 
native  country  from  the  AbdaJi  Afghans,  drove  Ashi-af  out 
of  Isfahan,  fought  successfully  against  the  Turks,  and  set 
Tahmasp,  the  exiled  son  of  Hosen,  upon  his  father's  throne. 

Ere  long,  however,  the  new  king  had  to  make  way  for 
his  abler  protector,  who  began  his  reign  by  conquering 
Afghanistan.  The  internal  weakness  of  the  Moghal  empire 
then  tiu'ned  his  thoughts  to  the  country  beyond  the  Indus  ; 

M 


162  HI3T0BY   OF   INDIA. 

and  a  joint  letter  *  from  Chin  Kilich  and  Siidat  Khan  is 
said  by  the  native  chroniclers  to  have  spurred  him  on 
to  the  cheap  and  alluring  task  of  heightening  his  own 
renown  by  the  plunder  of  a  defenceless  people.  On  one 
plea  or  another  he  set  forth  from  Kabul  in  the  autumn  of 
1738,  passed  safely  through  the  mountains  that  barred 
his  way,  crossed  the  Indus,  and  easily  defeated  near 
Karnal  the  troops  which  Mohammad  Shah  had  hastily 
brought  up  from  Dchli  to  withstand  him.  Betrayed  by 
his  own  officers,  the  luckless  emperor  sued  in  person  for 
such  mercy  as  the  conqueror  might  deign  to  show.  In  the 
conqueror's  train  he  returned  to  his  own  capital  to  collect 
the  ransom  which  Nadir  Shah  was  willing  to  accept. 

But  the  worst  for  him  and  his  people  was  yet  to  come. 
Two  days  after  his  return  to  Dehli,  the  rumoured  death  of 
his  conqueror  roused  the  citizens  to  sudden  furj-.  They 
fell  upon  the  few  thousand  Persian  troops  scattered  about 
the  city.  The  cowardly  nobles  made  no  attempt  to  stay 
the  slaughter  of  those  whom  they  had  shrunk  from  facing 
in  the  field.  Nadir  Shah  himself  became  a  mark  for 
stones  and  bullets  as  he  rode  next  morning  through  the 
streets  where  lay  the  bodies  of  his  murdered  followers. 
One  of  his  favourite  officers  fell  dead  by  his  side.  Pro- 
voked beyond  bearing  by  this  last  blow,  he  let  loose  his 
impatient  soldiers  on  the  raging  crowd.  In  the  next  few 
hours  the  massacres  of  Timur's  day  were  renewed  within 
hearing,  if  not  under  the  eyes,  of  Dehh's  new  master.  Thirty 
thousand  people  are  supposed  to  have  perished,  before  Nadir 
Shah,  moved  perhaps  by  the  emperor's  humble  entreaties,  t 
ordered  his  obedient  warriors  to  hold  their  hands. 

*  Elphinstone  doubts  the  truth  of  this  ston-,  which  Mr.  Keene,  on 
the  contrary,  believes  (Keene's  '■  Moghul  Empire,"  p.  36). 

t  According  to  Dow,  Mohammad  Shah  himself,  followed  by  his  chief 
nobles,  entered  the  Mosque  of  Roshan-ud-daula,  in  the  Chandni  Chauk, 
the  Regent  Street  of  Dehli,  where  Nadir  was  sitting  in  gloomy  silence, 
and  with  tears  besought  him  to  spare  the  Emperor's  subjects ;  where- 
upon he  stopped  the  massacre. 


SUCCESSORS   OF   ADRANGZIB.  1G3 

It  remained  to  continue  the  work  of  spoliation  already 
begun.  Every  man  of  the  least  wealth  or  mark  in  the 
city,  from  the  emperor  and  his  nobles  down  to  the  smaller 
t:-adesmen,  had  to  contribute  his  share  to  the  general 
ransom.  Every  bouse  was  ransacked  for  hidden  treasure. 
Torture  was  emploj'ed  in  aid  of  threats.  Numbers  of  the 
people  died  of  ill-usage  or  slew  themselves  to  avoid  it. 
Among  the  latter  appears  to  have  been  the  traitor  Sadat 
Ivhan  himseh'.*  The  native  officers  who  had  to  collect  the 
plunder  filled  their  own  pockets  with  untold  sums  at  the 
cost  of  their  helpless  countrymen.  Heavy  fines  were  also 
drawn  from  the  provinces.  After  two  months  employed 
on  a  quest  so  fruitful,  the  Persian  conqueror  marched  out 
of  Dehli  laden  with  treasure  in  coin,  jewels,  and  goods, 
whose  value  may  have  amounted  to  thirty  crores  of  rupees, 
or  more  than  thirty  millions  of  our  money.  Conspicuous 
among  his  plunder  was  the  famous  peacock  throne  of  Shah 
Jah;m,  the  chiefest  jewels  in  which  were,  more  than  a  cen- 
tury after,  to  become  the  prize  of  a  power  at  that  time 
owning  but  a  few  square  miles  of  Indian  ground. 

A  year  after  Nadir's  return  homewards,  Baji  Rao  died 
in  the  midst  of  fresh  plans  for  pursuing  the  work  inter- 
rupted by  the  Persian  monarch.  Besides  his  northern 
forays,  he  had  for  some  time  past  been  engaged  in  warfare 
with  the  Portuguese,  with  the  Sidis  or  Abyssinians  of 
Jinjera,  and  with  Angria,  the  pii-ate  lord  of  Kolaba,  near 
Bombay.  The  Portuguese  his  brother  Chimnaji  drove  out 
of  Salsette,  Bassein,  and  other  places  in  the  Kankan  ;  but 
the  Sidis  fought  him  on  pretty  equal  terms,  and  the  war 
with  Angria,  in  spite  of  English  aid,  lingered  on  after  the 

*  The  story  which  Elphinstone  quotes  only  to  reject,  is  that  Nadir 
sent  for  Chin  Kilich  and  Sadat  Khan,  and  reviling  them  for  their 
treachery  to  their  king,  spat  on  their  beards  :  a  disgrace  which  only 
death  could  wipe  out.  Chi'n  Kilich  made  a  show  of  poisoning  himself, 
and  yddat,  deceived  by  his  clever  acting,  took  real  poison  and  died. 
Whether  the  story  be  a  myth  or  no,  however,  Sidat  certainly  killed 
himself  on  account  of  Nadir's  behaviour  towards  him. 

u  2 


ini  msTOEY  OF  rsniA. 

Pesliwa's  death.  Nor  had  Baji  Rao  succeeded  in  his  latest 
essay  against  the  Dakhan,  where  Chin  Kilich's  brave  son, 
Nasir  Jang,  had  vigorously  upheld  the  cause  of  his  absent 
father.  On  the  whole,  however,  in  spite  of  partial  failures 
abroad  and  dissensions  among  his  own  countrymen,  the 
deceased  Pt^shwa's  daring  policy  had  raised  the  Maratha 
power  to  a  height  whence  nothing  but  the  incurable  folly 
of  his  successors  could  afterwards  bring  it  down. 


165 


CHAPTEK    VIII. 

THE    MOGHAL    EMPIBE    TO    THE    BATTLE    OF    pInIPAT. 

Besides  the  plunder  of  a  populous  city  and  a  broad  province, 
Nadir  Shah  annexed  the  whole  of  the  Moghal  dominions  in 
Kabul,  Sindh,  and  the  Panjab  within  the  Indus.  To  the 
Moghal  emperor  he  left  a  dishonoured  crown,  an  empty 
treasury,  and  the  wrecks  of  an  empire  already  breaking  to 
pieces.  The  closing  years  of  Mohammad's  reign  were 
years  of  growing  disorder,  of  ever-darkening  prospects  for 
the  House  of  Babar.  Mohammad's  court  was  rent  with 
factions  and  filled  with  intrigues.  Province  after  province 
flipped  out  of  his  feeble  grasp.  The  princes  of  Rajputana 
disowned  their  allegiance  with  impunity.  The  Maratha 
Gaikwar  reigned  in  Gujarat.  A  bold  adventurer,  Mohabat 
Jang,  best  known  as  Ahvardi  Khan,  had  bribed  the  Court 
of  DehU  to  sanction  his  seizure  of  Bengal,  Bahar,  and  Orissa. 
Safdar  Jang,  the  son  of  Sadat  Khan,  governed  Audh  as 
the  equal  rather  than  the  servant  of  his  Hege  lord.  In 
Southern  India  remained  not  a  foot  of  ground  which  the 
emperor  could  henceforth  call  his  o\\'n,  if  his  nominal  lieges 
chose  to  deny  the  claim. 

The  very  quarrels  of  Maratha  leaders  brought  him  no 
advantage.  In  return  for  help  received  from  Balaji  Rao, 
son  and  successor  of  the  last  Peshwa,  against  the  daring 
raids  of  his  rival  Raguji  Bhosla  from  Berar  into  Bengal, 
the  emperor  was  fain  to  grant  him  fuU  possession  of 
Malwa  as  a  hereditary  fief.  A  few  months  afterwards 
Balaji  gave  a  new  impulse  to  his  countrymen's  greed  for 


IGG  HISTORY    OF    INDU. 

plunder  and  conquest  by  granting  his  late  opponent  the 
right  to  levy  chauth  on  Bengal  and  Bahar,  if  not  on  pro- 
vinces yet  further  north.  Thus  fi'ee  to  push  his  own 
fortunes,  Raguji  carried  his  arms  and  ravages  into  the 
heart  of  Bengal,  to  such  purpose  that  neither  the  skill  nor 
the  soldiership  of  AUvardi  Khan  could  long  hold  out 
against  Maratha  energy,  backed  by  a  mutiny  among  his 
best  soldiers,  a  body  of  Afghans  under  Mustafa  Ivhan. 
The  treacherous  murder  of  Baskar  Pandit,  the  ilaratha 
general,  by  the  Moghal  Viceroy  himself,  was  requited  six 
years  later  by  the  cession  to  Raguji  of  half  Orisia,  and  a 
promise  to  pay  chauth  for  Bengal. 

If  Alivardi  had  looked  for  help  to  the  aged  Viceroy  tf 
the  Dakhan,  he  had  looked  in  vain.  After  leaving  his 
eldest  son  Ghazi-ud-din  as  Vizier  at  Dehli,  Chin  Kilich 
on  his  retm-n  to  Haidarabad  had  been  for  some  time  engaged 
in  suppressing  the  revolt  of  nis  son  Nasir  Jang.  That 
misguided  prince  brought  to  his  senses  in  1742,  his 
father's  attention  had  nest  been  called  to  the  Camatic, 
which  one  of  Raguji's  officers,  Morari  Rao,  was  employed 
in  wresting  from  its  Moghal  Nawab.  The  old  Tartar's 
presence  at  the  head  of  a  large  army  brought  the  Marathas 
to  a  timely  compromise ;  Morari  Rao  retaining  Giiti  and 
some  other  districts,  while  the  rest  of  the  country  was 
shared  between  Chin  Kilich's  grandson,  Mozati'ar  Jang, 
and  his  faithful  servant  Anwar-ud-din.  In  1718  Chin 
liihch  himself,  the  wily  and  ambitious  Nizam-ul-Mulk, 
died  at  Burhanpiir  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven  ;  and  his 
sons  in  the  midst  of  their  own  quarrels  could  pay  little 
heed  to  the  affairs  of  remote  Bengal.* 

His  death  followed  but  a  few  weeks  after  that  of 
Mohammad  Shah  himself,  whose  path  had  latterly  been 
cheered  by  a  victory  gained  over  Afghan  insurgents  in 

*  According  to  entne  accounts,  Chin  Kilich  died  at  the  fabulous- 
seeming  age  of  a  hundi-ed  and  four.  Elphinstone's  estimate,  however, 
is  probably  much  nearer  the  maik. 


THE  MOGHAL  EMPIRE  TO  THE  BATTLE  OF  PAXIPAT.        167 

Roliilkhand,*  and  later  still  by  his  son  Ahmad's  defeat  of 
Ahmad  Khan,  the  formidable  leader  of  a  new  invasion 
from  Kandahar.  An  Abdali  Afghan,  sprung  from  the  sacred 
Saddozai  branch  of  his  tribe,  Ahmad  Khan  had  no  sooner 
fought  his  way  to  the  headship  of  the  Afghan  race  and  the 
mastery  of  Sindh,  than  he  prepared  to  lead  a  small  but 
resolute  army  across  the  Panjab  into  Upper  Hindustan. 
His  skilful  strategy  baffled  all  attempts  to  oppose  him 
until,  in  March  1748,  his  soldiers  found  the  Moghals  under 
Prince  Ahmad  strongly  entrenched  near  the  city  of  Sirhind. 
A  series  of  hard  fights,  continued  for  ten  days,  ended  in 
the  Abdah's  repulse  with  heavy  slaughter  ;  and  Dehli  for 
a  few  years  longer  was  saved  from  further  suffering. 

A  month  after  his  victory  Prince  Ahmad  mounted  his 
father's  throne,  with  Safdar  Jang  of  Audh  for  his  vizier. 
It  was  not  long  before  the  latter,  unable  to  cope  by  him- 
self with  a  new  Rohilla  rising  on  a  formidable  scale,  ap- 
pealed for  aid  to  the  Jats  and  Marathas  in  the  provinces 
skirting  the  right  bank  of  the  Jamna.  With  their  help  the 
invaders  were  driven  back  into  Rohilkhand ;  but  this  suc- 
cess was  more  than  balanced  by  a  Moghal  defeat  in  Mar- 
war,  and  by  the  conquest  of  the  Panjab  by  Ahmad  Shah 
the  Abdali,  or,  as  he  now  styled  himself^  the  Durani,  king 
of  Afghanistan.  The  defeat  of  the  RohiUas  moreover 
placed  new  weapons  of  attack  in  the  hands  of  Sindia  and 
HoLkar,  who  were  free  to  ravage  Rohilkhand  under  the 
cloak  of  levying  their  favourite  black-mail. 

Yet  darker  troubles  awaited  the  luckless  emperor.  The 
streets  of  DehU  became  the  scene  of  a  civU  war  between 
the  vizier  and  his  new  rival  Ghazi-ud-din,  grandson  of 
Chin  Ehch  and  son  of  the  late  vizier.  For  sis  months 
the  battle-cries  of  Persian  and  Moghal,  Shia  and  Sunni, 
resounded  through  the  city.    Holkar   and  his  Marathas 

•  The  Eohfllas  were  a  colony  of  Yusufzai  and  other  Afghan  tribes, 
which  had  lately  conquered  the  country  east  of  the  Ganges,  froui 
Audh  up  to  the  Himalayas. 


1G8  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

fought  for  the  Moghal  leader  agamst  their  Hindu  country- 
mon  the  Jiits,  whose  Rajah,  Suraj  Mai,  had  espoused  the 
cause  of  Safdar  Jang.  At  length  the  latter  withdrew  from 
a  fruitless  struggle  into  his  own  province  beyond  the 
Ganges.  The  emperor,  however,  soon  wearied  of  the 
burden  he  had  brought  upon  his  own  shoulders,  when  he 
plotted  with  the  youthful  grandson  of  Chin  Kilich  against 
the  murderer  of  his  favourite  eunuch.  In  the  midst  of 
an  effort  to  shake  off  his  new  tyrant,  he  fell  into  the  hands 
of  Ghazi-ud-din  himself,  who  straightway  put  out  his  eyes, 
and  set  up  as  emperor  in  his  stead  a  son  of  Jahandar 
Shah,  under  the  title  of  Alamgir  II. 

Meanwhile  the  new  Maratha  Peshwa,  Bulaji  Rao,  had 
been  steadily  building  up  the  fabric  of  Maratha  power 
with  the  mingled  boldness,  cunning,  and  perseverance  of 
his  caste  and  family.  la  1749,  the  long  reign  of  Rajah 
Saho,  the  grandson  of  Sivaji,  the  prisoner  of  Aurangzib, 
the  patron  or  the  puppet  of  three  successive  Peshwas, 
came  to  an  end  ;  and  Rajah  Ram  11.,  grandson,  real  or 
pretended,  of  his  dead  namesake  and  the  stiU  living  Tara 
Bhai,  was  installed  as  puppet  sovereign  in  his  place. 
While  the  titular  heir  of  Sivaji  held  at  Satara  his  phantom 
court,  the  Peshwa  himself  at  Pima  wielded  the  virtual 
sovereignty  of  aU  Maharashtra,  and  his  orders  were  obeyed 
alike  by  Sindia  on  the  Chambal  and  by  Raguji  Bhosla 
beyond  the  Kistna. 

In  spite  of  the  intrigues  of  Tm-a  Bhai,  the  turbulence  of 
his  cousin  Sedasheo  Bhao,  and  the  part  he  himself  played 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Dakhan,  Biilaji  Rao,  with  equal 
courage,  skill,  and  good  fortune,  held  his  triumphant  way 
through  aU  snares  and  over  all  hindrances,  until,  by  the 
time  of  Ahmad  Shah's  deposition,  he  had  made  the 
Maratha  name  a  terror  or  a  beacon  throughout  all  India. 
In  the  fatal  strife  for  power  between  the  sons  of  Chin 
Kilich,  he  conti'ived  not  only  to  baffle  Salabat  Jang  and 
his  French  ally,  Bussy,  but  to  obtain  the  cession  of  West 


THE  MOGH.U,  EMPIRE  TO  THE  BATTLE  OF  PANIPAT.       169 

P.erar  from  Salabat's  eldest  brother,  Ghazi-ud-din.  In 
concert  with  the  English  Commodore  James,  his  fleets  in 
1755  aided  in  capturing  Angria's  pii-ate  stronghold  of 
Savandrug,  which  was  forthwith  made  over  to  him  in 
exchange  for  his  seaport  town  of  Bankot."  To  him  also 
in  the  following  year  was  transferred  the  old  Maratha  fort 
and  town  of  Giiiah,  which  the  redoubtable  Tiilaji  Angria 
had  vainly  defended  against  Admiral  Watson  and  his  col- 
league Colonel  Clive,  aheady  a  soldier  of  mark  in  the 
service  of  the  East  India  Company. 

A  year  earlier  Balaji's  brother  Eagoba  f  had  cleared 
away  the  last  relic  of  Moghal  rule  in  Gujarat  by  the  cap- 
ture of  the  old  Pathan  city  of  Ahmadabad.  Sharing  the 
rich  spoils  with  his  lieutenant,  Damaji  Gaikwar,  the  con- 
queror carried  his  arms,  and  successfully  asserted  the 
Maratha  claim  to  chauth  against  the  Hindu  chiefs  of 
Rajputana  and  Bhartpiir.  In  1751  his  troops  set  forth 
from  Malwa  on  their  way  to  Dehh  at  the  prayer  of  the 
ruffianly  Ghazi-ud-din  the  younger. 

That  luckless  city  had  just  been  taken  and  despoiled  by 
a  second  Nadir,  in  the  person  of  Ahmad  Shah,  the  Durani, 
who  had  thus  revenged  himself  for  the  Moghal  vizier's  re- 
cent raid  into  Labor.  No  sooner  had  he  turned  his  back 
on  Dehli,  than  Ghazi-ud-din  besought  the  Marathas  to  aid 
him  in  getting  rid  of  Ahmad's  deputy,  the  able  and  honest 
Rohilla  chief,  Najib-ud-daula.  Under  the  wing  of  his  new 
ally  he  re-entered  Dehh  in  triumph,  and  Najib-ud-daula 
retired  northwards  to  his  own  domain  near  Saharanpur. 
Emboldened  by  this  success,  Eagoba  a  few  months  after- 
wards crossed  the  Satlaj,  drove  the  Afghans  out  of  the 
Panjab,  and  set  up  a  governor  of  his  own  choosing  at 
Labor.  One  of  his  generals  overran  Rohilkhand.  To 
crown  all,  his  cousin  "  the  Bhao,"  as  Sedasheo  Bhao  was 

*  A   town   in   the   Ratnagiri    district,   sixty -eight  miles   south   of 
Bombay,  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Savitri. 
t  His  proper  name  was  Ragunath  Rao. 


170  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

commonly  called,  was  entering  on  a  career  of  victory  in 
the  Dakhan,  which  began  with  the  taking  of  Ahmadnagar, 
and  ended  in  17G0  with  the  conquest  of  half  the  country 
ruled  by  Ghazi-ud-din's  successor,  Salabat  Jang. 

The  Slaratha  power  had  now  reached  its  highest  point. 
From  the  Indus  and  the  Himalayas  down  to  the  borders  of 
Travankor,  Balaji  levied  the  JIaratba  black-mail,  or  ruled 
the  country  through  his  own  officers.  The  seed  which 
Sivaji  had  sown  a  century  earlier  had  sprung  up  into  a 
noble  tree,  whose  branches,  like  the  banyan-tree  of  the 
country,  had  struck  fresh  roots,  until  the  single  trunk  had 
multipUed  into  a  mighty  forest  overshadowing  the  whole 
peninsula,  and  threatening,  as  it  grew,  to  kill  off  all  rival 
growths.  While  the  Hindu  genius  for  civil  government 
found  free  play  in  the  countries  which  had  been  fairly 
brought  under  the  rule  of  Brahman  Peshwas,  the  old 
swarms  of  mounted  freebooters  had  been  strengthened  or 
replaced  by  regular  armies  of  horse  and  foot,  well  paid, 
fairly  disciplined,  and  equipped  with  guns,  not  wholly 
useless  against  ordinary  foes. 

But  the  shadow  of  a  great  disaster  was  already  creeping 
over  the  Peshwa's  path.  The  pride  that  goes  before  de- 
struction impelled  his  cousin,  the  Bhao,  to  supplant 
Eagoba  as  Captain-General  of  the  Maratha  armies  in 
Hindustan.  Meanwhile,  a  Maratha  force  in  Rohilkhand 
had  been  driven  back  across  the  Ganges  by  Shuja-ud- 
dftula,  the  Nawab  of  Audh.  Ahmad  Shah,  the  Durani, 
had  once  more  issued  from  the  Afghan  hiUs  to  punish  the 
bold  invaders  of  his  son's  domains  in  the  Panjab,  and  to 
drive  the  horsemen  of  Sindia  and  Holkar  across  the 
Chambal.  The  murder  of  Alamgir,  by  order  of  the  blood- 
stained Gh;izi-ud-din,  left  Dehli  without  an  emperor,  but 
failed  to  arrest  for  a  moment  the  issues  dreaded  by  his 
murderer.  Ahmad  Shah  marched  on  towards  the  Moghal 
capital,  and  an  Afghan  garrison  ere  long  held  the  city  in  his 
name. 


THE  MOGHAL  EMPIRE  TO  THE  BATTLE  OF  P.OvIPAT.   171 

The  Marathas  on  their  side  were  not  idle.  A  mighty 
gathering  of  Rajputs,  Jats,  and  Marathas  swept  up  the 
country  to  complete  the  downfall  of  ilohammadan  rule, 
and  drive  the  Durani  across  the  Indus.  Dehh  itself  was 
taken  and  once  more  despoiled  by  the  soldiers  of  the 
Bhao,  who  would  hardly  wait  to  lead  them  against  the 
Afghans  before  proclaiming  Bulaji's  son,  Wiswas  Kao, 
Emperor  of  Hindustan.  Puffed  up  with  his  past  successes 
and  an  overweening  self-conceit,  the  Maratha  leader  gave 
no  heed  to  the  cautious  counsels  of  his  Jat  ally,  Suraj 
Mai,  but  led  forth  his  whole  array  of  horse,  foot,  and  guns, 
to  attack  an  army  of  about  equal  strength  commanded  by 
the  foremost  general  of  his  day. 

The  first  hard  blow  in  the  coming  strife  for  empire 
between  the  Mohammadans  and  the  Hindus  was  virtually 
struck  when  Ahmad  Shah  plimged  into  the  swollen 
Jamna  above  Dehli,  and  by  fording  or  swimming  landed 
his  troops  on  the  other  side  in  the  face  of  their  astonished 
foes.  Entrenching  himself  on  the  ill-omened  field  of 
Panipat,  the  Bhao  awaited  an  attack  from  the  foe  he  had 
learned  too  late  to  value  rightly.  For  two  months  the 
armies  which  were  to  decide  the  fate  of  India  lay  near 
each  other,  neither  daring  to  move  bodily  out  of  its  en- 
trenchments, while  outlying  parties  skirmished  daily 
together,  and  flying  columns  beat  up  each  other's  quarters, 
cut  off  the  enemy's  convoys,  or  scoured  the  countiy  for 
supplies.  It  needed  all  Ah  111  ad's  coolness  and  strength  of 
will  to  curb  the  impatience  of  his  Moghal  and  Rohilla 
officers,  who  were  slow  to  see  the  wisdom  of  this  long 
delay.  But  the  far-seeing  Afghan  bade  them  sleep  in 
peace,  and  trust  all  to  a  leader  who  knew  what  he  was 
doing.  "  I  wUl  take  care,"  he  said,  "  that  no  harm  befalls 
you,"  and  he  kept  his  word.* 

•  "  His  orders  were  obeyed  like  destiny,"  says  the  chronicler  Kasi 
Rai ;  "  no  man  daring  to  hesitate  or  delay  one  moment  in  executing 
them.'' 


172  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

At  last  the  hour  drew  near  when  his  patient  watchful- 
ness was  to  reap  its  due  reward.  Hemmed  in  on  every 
side,  their  supplies  cut  oflf,  their  host  of  followers  already 
starving,  their  huge  camp  reeking  with  the  stench  of  dead 
bodies  and  the  accumulated  filth  and  refuse  of  near  three 
hundred  thousand  souls,  the  Bhao's  last  eflorts  to  treat 
with  the  double-dealing  ruler  of  Audh  frustrated  by  Shuja's 
fears,  and  by  the  stern  antagonism  of  the  Rohilla  chief  Na- 
jib-ud-daula,  the  whole  Hindu  army  marched  forth  to  battle 
in  the  early  morning  of  the  6th  January,  17()1,  with  the 
courage  less  of  hope  than  of  sheer  despair.  "  The  ends  of 
their  turbans,"  Bays  Grant  Duff,  "  were  let  loose,  their 
hands  and  faces  anointed  with  a  preparation  of  turmeric, 
signifying  that  they  were  come  forth  to  die,  and  every- 
thing seemed  to  bespeak  the  despondency  of  sacrifice  pre- 
pared instead  of  victoiy  determined."  On  the  side  of 
Ahmad  Shah  were  about  40,000  Afghans  and  Persians, 
mostly  mounted,  13,000  Indian  horse,  and  38,000  Indian 
foot,  with  thirty  guns  and  many  wall-pieces.  Under  the 
Maratha  flag  were  ranged  some  50,000  splendid  cavalry, 
at  least  15,000  u-regular  horse,  with  an  equal  number  of 
foot,  mostly  trained  in  the  Dakhan  by  a  Mussulman  de- 
serter from  the  French  service,  and  200  guns,  besides  a 
large  number  of  wall-pieces.  Both  sides  may  also  have 
mustered  a  large  contingent  of  wild  volunteer  horsemen, 
whom  the  thirst  for  plunder  and  excitement  had  brought 
into  the  field.* 

The  centre  of  the  Maratha  line  was  led  by  Sedasheo 
Bhao  himself,  with  whom  rode  his  young  kinsman,  Wiswus 
Rao,  and  several  chiefs  of  note  in  the  Dakhan  wars. 
Mahaji  Sindia  commanded  the  right  wing,  while  the  left, 
under  the  Gaikwar,  was  strengthened  by  the  9,000  disci- 
phned  Sepoys  whom  Ibrahim  Ivlian  had  brought  up  fi-om 
the  Dakhan.     MaUiar  Rao  Holkar  took  post  in  the  right 

*  The  Pindaris,  of  evil  fame,  are  recorded  as  flocking  to  the  Maratha 

standard. 


THE  MOGHAL  EMPIRE  TO  THE  BATTLE  OF  PANTPAT.       173 

centre.  For  one  leader  no  place  was  to  be  found  ou  that 
memorable  morning.  Suraj  Mai,  with  many  thousand  Jats 
and  Eajputs,  had  already  retired  in  dudgeon  to  his  own  land. 

Hardly  had  the  Mai'iithas  begun  their  forward  march, 
when  the  watchful  Ahmad  drew  out  his  own  array  to  meet 
them.  His  Grand  Vizier,  Shah  Walli,  held  the  centre, 
consisting  chiefly  of  his  own  Afghans.  On  his  right  were 
posted  several  Moghal  and  Rohilla  chiefs,  while  the  left 
was  entrusted  to  the  brave  Najib-ud-daula  and  the  half- 
hearted Nawiib  of  Audh.  All  day  the  battle  raged  with 
varj-ing  fortune.  Ovei-powered  by  the  steady  onset  of  the 
Dakhan  Sepoys,  the  Afghan  right  gave  way  after  a  heavy 
slaughter.  In  the  centre  the  Bhao's  Maratha  and  Rajput 
horsemen  swept  like  a  vast  thunder-cloud  upon  the  Grand 
Vizier's  Dui'anis,  and,  in  spite  of  Afghan  prowess  and  the 
Afghan  leader's  bold  example,  drove  them  back  in  disorder 
on  their  reserves.  On  the  Afghan  left  a  more  equal  battle 
was  waged  by  Xajib's  RohiUas  against  the  troops  of  Sindia 
and  Holkar. 

In  vain  did  the  Grand  Vizier  attempt  by  repeated 
charges  to  retrieve  the  ruin  that  threatened  his  centi-e. 
The  Bhao,  whose  courage  far  outsti'ipped  his  generalship, 
still  led  forward  his  famished  warriors  into  the  heart  of  the 
hostile  ranks.  Round  him  and  the  hapless  son  of  Balaji 
the  fight  still  raged  with  deadliest  fury,  and  spears, 
swords,  and  battle-axes  drank  their  fill  of  blood.  At  that 
moment  of  seeming  defeat,  Ahmad  Shah  by  one  supreme 
eflbrt  restored  the  fortunes  of  his  hard-pressed  troops. 
While  every  Hindu  soldier  was  already  engaged,  his  own 
reserves  were  stUl  waiting  the  order  to  advance.  Hurry- 
ing off  a  part  of  these  to  aid  in  turning  the  enemy's  right, 
with  the  rest  he  rallied  the  fugitives  from  his  own  right 
and  centre,  and  renewed  the  battle  on  that  side. 

The  double  movement  soon  bore  fruit.  Afghans  and 
Rohillas  reformed  their  broken  lines,  large  bodies  of  fresh 
horsemen  thundered  down  upon  the  weary  foe,  and  Najib'3 


174 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


reinforced  warriors  pushed  buck  until  they  had  rolled  up 
the  Manitha  right.  Still  the  fight  raged  under  the  hot 
afternoon  sun,  until  Wiswas  Eao  was  seen  to  fall.  Mad- 
dened at  the  sight,  or  aware  of  coming  doom,  the  Bhao 


^  r  ' »    ^rri      !^ 


plunged  into  the  thickest  of  the  fray  ;  Holkar,  to  whom  ho 
had  last  spoken,  led  his  own  troops  from  the  field,  as  if  all 
were  lost  alread}' ;  '^'  the  Gaikwar  followed  his  example  ; 

*  He  is  said  to  have  had  a  secret  understanding  with  Shuja-ud- 
dania ;  but  this  is  very  doubtful.  It  is  more  probable,  as  Sir  J.  Malcolm 
thinks,  that  so  good  a  soldier  saw  in  a  timely  retreat  the  only  hope 
of  saving  his  o^vn  followers  from  the  general  wreck.  In  so  doing  he 
maj  only  have  obeyed  the  Bhao's  last  injunctions. 


THE  MOGHAL  EMPIRE  TO  TUE  BATTLE  OF  PANIPAT.       1  /  0 

and  presently  the  -whole  of  that  great  army  was  flying  in 
wild  disorder  from  the  swiftly  advancing  foe.  The 
slaughter  that  followed  in  a  chase  of  many  miles  com- 
pleted the  horrors  of  that  eventful  day.  No  quarter  was 
asked  or  given.  Of  those  who  escaped  the  swords  of  their 
pursuers,  a  great  many  were  cut  up  by  the  villagers  them- 
selves, and  many  more  were  afterwards  slain  in  cold  blood 
by  their  Dunini  captors.  Among  these  last  were  Jankoji 
Sindia  and  the  bi-ave  Ibrahim  Khan.  The  Bhao  himself 
had  found  the  death  he  sought  for  in  the  field.  It  is 
reckoned  that  only  a  fourth  of  the  fighting  men,  and  about 
the  same  proportion  of  camp  followers,  survived  that 
fearful  carnage.  Thousands  of  women  and  children  found 
in  the  entrenched  camp  and  in  the  town  of  Panipat,  were 
sold  as  slaves ;  and  the  vengeance  of  the  conquerors  for 
their  own  heavy  losses  was  sated  only  when  their  victims 
had  drained  the  cup  of  sufiering  to  its  last  drop. 

With  the  costly  victory  of  Panipat  the  league  of  Mo- 
hammadan  princes  against  the  common  foe  seems  at  once 
to  have  broken  up.  Ahmad  Shah  himself  recrossed  the 
Indus,  leaving  his  late  allies  to  settle  their  own  afl'uirs  in 
their  own  way.  If  the  Maratha  power  had  received  a 
permanent  check,  the  Moghal  Empire  was  never  again  to 
emerge  from  its  late  eclipse,  although  a  nominal  emperor 
might  still  hold  his  shadowy  court  at  Dehli,  and  powerful 
princes  were  to  ofl'er  him  mock  allegiance  for  kingdoms 
won  by  then'  own  swords.  Throughout  Maharashtra  were 
heard  the  sounds  of  wailing  for  the  carnage  of  Panipat. 
The  Peshwa  himself,  who  was  marching  towards  Dehh, 
broke  up  his  camp,  recrossed  the  Narbadha,  and  reached 
Puna  only  to  die,  bequeathing  to  his  successors  a  broken 
sceptre  and  a  losing  struggle  with  a  power  already  domi- 
nant in  Bengal.  How  that  power  had  meanwhile  been 
advancing,  the  following  chapter  will  show. 


17G 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE    FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH    IN    INDIA. 

Foe  many  years  after  the  death  of  Aurangzib  the  English 
in  Bengal  continued  to  play  the  part  of  peaceful  traders, 
jealous  of  all  rivals  from  the  West,  readj'  to  grasp  at  any 
new  concession  which  prayers,  clamours,  or  timely  services 
might  win  from  native  rulers,  and  careful  to  hold  aloof 
from  the  wars  that  might  rage  around  them.  The  good 
fortune  which  enabled  an  English  surgeon,  Mr.  Hamilton, 
to  cure  the  Emperor  Farokhsir  of  an  illness  which  had 
baffled  the  skill  of  native  Hakims,  was  requited,  at  Mr. 
Hamilton's  own  request,  by  an  oi'der  exempting  the  Com- 
pany's agents  from  all  local  charges  on  their  merchandise, 
and  by  another  which  empowered  the  Company  to  buy 
over  the  lordship  of  thirty-eight  ■\'illages  near  Calcutta. 
The  help  which  the  English  afterwards  received  from  the 
Viceroy,  Shuja-ud-din,  in  their  efforts  to  destroy  the  trade 
of  an  interloping  company  established  at  Ostend,  consoled 
them  for  the  dirt  they  had  eaten  under  his  unfriendlv  pre- 
decessor, Murshid  Kuli  lOian.  During  the  troubles  en- 
gendered by  Alivardi  Ivhan's  long  struggle  with  the  Mara- 
tha  invaders  of  Bengal,  they  obtained  leave  fi-om  the  Vice- 
roy to  surround  their  settlement  of  Calcutta  with  an 
entrenchment  afterwards  known  as  "  the  Maratha  Ditch." 
On  the  opposite  side  of  India,  however,  the  English 
were  sometimes  less  peacefully  employed  in  defending 
their  interests  against  the  assaults  of  Maratha  pirates,  who 
became  a  terror  and  a  nuisance  to  all  vessels  trading  with 
the  Kankan.     The  failure  in  1722  of  a  joint  attack  bv  the 


THE    FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH    IN    INDIA.  177 

English  and  the  Portuguese  on  Aiigria's  stronghold  of 
Kolaba  emboldened  the  pirates  to  fresh  outrages  ;  and  not 
till  more  than  thirty  years  after  was  the  power  of  Angi-ia's 
successors  broken,  by  the  combined  attacks  of  EngUsh  and 
Maratha  forces  on  the  rock-perched  fastnesses  of  the  pu-ate 
chiefs. 

Meanwhile  at  Madras  and  in  Southern  India  events  bad 
been  happening  which  gave  a  new  turn  to  the  poUcy  of 
the  East  India  directors.  While  France  and  England 
were  fighting  at  home,  in  India  the  merchants  of  either 
country  had  long  been  wont  to  follow  peacefully,  side  by 
side,  the  business  which  took  them  so  far  away  from 
their  own  land.  Calcutta  and  Chandanagor,  Madras  and 
Pondicherry,  were  content  to  grow  rich  against  each  other, 
instead  of  taking  an  unprofitable  part  in  the  wars  between 
the  parent  states.  But  in  1744,  when  France  and  Eng- 
land were  once  more  at  open  strife,  the  bold  Labour- 
donnais  resolved,  with  the  sanction  of  the  French  Govern- 
ment, to  fight  his  country's  enemies  in  India  also.*  Re- 
turning to  the  Isle  of  France,  of  which  he  was  then 
governor,  he  looked  out  in  vain  for  the  promised  armament 
from  home.  But  his  amazing  energy  overcame  all  draw- 
backs. In  one  way  or  another  he  got  together  a  fleet 
manned  with  sailors  whom  he  himself,  a  sailor  by  profes- 
sion and  something  of  an  engineer,  had  trained  for  their 
destined  work.  In  July,  1746,  after  beating  off  an  Eng- 
lish squadron  sent  to  intercept  him,  he  anchored  off 
Pondicherry,  took  counsel  with  its  able  governor,  M. 
Dupleis,  and  set  off  again  two  months  later  for  his  long- 
projected  attack  upon  Madras. 

On  the  18th  September  his  ships  and  land-batteries 
began  to  bombard  the  fort,  which  Governor  Morse  with  his 

*  A  full  and  interesting  account  of  this  adventurer's  brilliant  career 
in  India  and  the  Mauritius  may  be  found  in  Colonel  Malleson's 
'■  History  of  the  French  in  India."  During  his  rule,  from  1735  to  1745, 
the  Mauritius,  or  Isle  of  France,  grew  out  of  a  wilderness  into  a 
flourishing  colony. 

N 


178  HISTORY    OF    INIiIA. 

three  hundred  Englishmen,  of  whom  two-thirds  only  were 
soldiers,  made  a  feeble  show  of  holding  out.  Three  days 
afterwards  the  garrison  surrendered  as  prisoners  of  war  for 
the  time  being,  with  the  power  of  redeeming  the  captured 
settlement  after  a  specified  term  on  payment  of  nearly  half 
a  miOion  sterling.  A  large  amount  of  booty  fell  at  once 
into  the  conquerors'  hands,  besides  the  handsome  present 
of  £40,000  reserved  by  the  governor  for  Labourdonnais 
himself. 

The  convention,  however,  displeased  Dupleix,  who 
found  several  reasons,  including  the  powers  entrusted  to 
himself  as  Governor-General  of  French  India,  for  after- 
wards setting  it  aside.  In  the  midst  of  an  embittered 
squabble  between  two  men  who,  working  together,  might 
have  driven  the  English  out  of  India,  a  fearful  storm  so 
shattered  the  fleet  of  Labourdonnais,  that  he  set  sail  from 
Madras,  leaving  the  treaty  he  had  just  signed  with  the 
English  Governor  to  be  kept  or  broken  at  pleasure  by 
Dupleix.* 

Thus  freed  from  a  troublesome  rival,  Dupleis  had  now 
to  deal  with  a  new  opponent  in  the  shape  of  Anwar-ud-din, 
the  Nawiib  or  Governor  of  the  Carnatic.t  who  sent  troops 
to  enforce  fulfilment  of  the  Frenchman's  promise  to  sur- 
render Madras  into  his  hands.  If  Dupleix  had  ever  thought 
of  keeping  his  pledge,  he  was  now  bent  on  keeping  the 
fortified  place  instead.  In  vain  did  ten  thousand  of  the 
Nawab's  warriors  encamp  around  Madras,  in  hopes  of 
punishing  the  insolent  strangers  who  had  cheated  him  out 
of  his  due  share  in  the  winnings  gained  from  his  English 

*  At  the  Mauritius  he  found  a  new  governor  appointed  in  his  place. 
On  his  waj  thence  to  France  on  board  of  a  Dutch  vessel,  he  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  English,  was  kindly  treated  in  this  country,  and  sent 
to  France  on  his  parole.  There,  however,  lie  lay  for  three  years  in  the 
Bastille,  under  charges  of  which  he  was  at  length  acquitted.  But  he 
cime  out  of  prison  penniless  and  broken-hearted,  to  die  on  the  9th 
September,  1753. 

t  Book  iii.  chap.  8. 


THE    FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH    IN    INDIA.  179 

frionds.  With  four  hundred  Frenchmen  and  Sepoys 
drilled  in  French  fashion,  and  two  guns,  their  leader 
sallied  forth  against  the  Moghals.  The  Moghal  horsemen 
came  thundering  down  upon  the  little  band,  but  a  few 
■well-aimed  discharges  from  the  French  guns  checked  them 
in  mid -career,  causing  them  to  waver,  halt,  and  turn  back 
in  headlong  flight  from  the  foe  they  had  ignorantly  despised. 

This  brilliant  success  was  soon  followed  by  another.  A 
French  force  of  230  white  men  and  700  Sepoys  was  on 
its  way  from  Pondicherry  to  succour  Madras,  when  it 
found  about  10,000  of  the  Nawab's  troops  guarding  with 
their  guns  the  passage  of  the  Uttle  river  Adyar,  near 
Madras.  In  a  moment  Paradis  and  his  men  were  across 
the  river,  up  the  opposite  bank,  and  pouring  a  volley  into 
tlie  astonished  foe.  A  charge  with  the  bayonet  drove  the 
Moghals  into  the  town  of  St.  Thome.*  Once  more  the 
French  fire  swept  through  their  disordered  masses,  and 
sent  them  flying  helter-skelter  out  of  their  last  refuge.  At 
that  moment  the  victorious  garrison  of  Madras  came  up 
to  complete  the  rout,  and  chase  the  panic-stricken  Moghals 
back  towards  Arkot. 

Flushed  with  these  victories,  Dupleii  proceeded  to 
attack  the  English  in  Fort  St.  David,  about  fifteen  miles 
to  the  south  of  Pondicherry.  But  the  troops  sent  out  by 
him  were  badly  led,  and  a  sudden  onset  of  the  Nawab's 
soldiers  drove  them  back  in  disorder  to  the  French  capital. 
An  attack  by  sea  on  the  Moghal  town  of  Kadalor  was  de- 
feated by  a  timely  storm.  In  March,  1747,  Dupleix's  best 
officer,  Paradis  himself,  laid  siege  to  Fort  St.  David,  whose 
slender  garrison  were  saved  for  the  second  time  by  the 
approach  of  an  EngUsh  squadron  sent  from  the  Hiighli  to 
their  reHef. 

By  this  time  the  wily  governor  of  Pondicherry  had 
seduced  the  fickle  Anwar -ud-din  fi-om  his  English  alliance. 
But  the  Nawab's  friendship  was  short-lived.  In  1748  he 
*  Or  Maliapiiram, 

n2 


180  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

is  again  enlisted  on  the  side  of  the  English,  who  have  got 
all  ready  for  a  grand  attack  on  Pondichen-y  itself.  By 
the  end  of  June  a  bold  attempt  of  the  French  to  sui-prise 
Kadalor  had  been  baffled  by  the  clever  soldiership  of 
Major  Lawrence,  the  newly  appointed  commander  of  the 
EngHsh  forces  in  India.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before 
La\vrence  himself  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  brave  de- 
fenders of  Ariankopan,  a  kind  of  outwork  to  the  defences 
of  Pondicherry.  Against  the  latter  stronghold  the  re- 
nowned Admiral  Boscawen  opened  his  trenches  on  the 
10th  September  with  about  6,000  soldiers,  aided  by  a 
powerful  fleet.  So  skilfully,  however,  was  the  defence  con- 
ducted by  Dupleix  himself,  after  the  fall  of  his  ablest 
engineer  and  stoutest  helpmate,  Pai-adis,  that  after  six 
weeks  of  fruitless  eflbrt,  in  which  young  Clive,''=  the  future 
victor  of  Plassy,  nobly  bore  his  part,  Boscawen  carried 
back  his  armament  to  Fort  St.  David,  leaving  behind  him 
a  thousand  of  his  best  soldiers  dead  from  woirnds  or 
disease. 

The  victorious  Frenchman  took  care  to  trumpet  the 
news  of  his  success  throughout  India.  From  all  quarters, 
even  from  Dehh,  letters  of  congratulation  came  pom-ing 
in.  It  seemed  as  if  nothing  remained  to  him  hut  the 
easy  task  of  driving  the  defeated  and  despised  EngUsh  out 
of  the  country.  But  in  the  midst  of  the  movements 
which  Dupleix  was  planning  for  that  end,  came  the  un- 
welcome tidings  of  peace  concluded  at  Aix-la-Chapelle  on 
terms  which  obliged  the  French  to  give  back  their  recent 
conquests  in  Southern  India.  Madi-as  was  accordingly  re- 
stored into  English  keeping,  and  the  rival  nations  resumed 
the  footing  on  which  they  had  stood  to  each  other  five 
years  before. 

•  As  a  "  writer  "  or  clerk  of  the  East  India  Company,  Robert  Clive 
shared  in  the  fruitless  defence  of  Madr.^s  against  Libourdonnais. 
CaiTied  off  a  prisoner  to  Pondicherry,  he  escaped  thence  in  disguise 
to  Fort  St.  David,  and  exchanging  the  pen  for  the  sword,  served  as  an 
ensign  at  the  siege  of  Pondicherry. 


THE    FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH    IN    INDIA.  181 

But  neither  of  them  was  willing  to  lot  things  remain  as 
they  were.  The  quarrels  of  the  neighbouring  native 
princes  opened  out  new  fields  of  enterprise  to  the  servants 
of  ri\al  companies  founded  for  the  promotion  of  peaceful 
trade.  On  the  plea  of  aiding  the  Maratha  Rajah  of  Tanjor 
to  regain  his  lost  throne,  the  English  under  Major  Law- 
rence besieged  and  took  the  fort  of  Devikiltta  ;  the  posses- 
bion  of  which,  with  a  strip  of  adjoining  country,  was  after- 
wards secured  to  them  by  treaty  with  the  Rajah's  brother 
and  victorious  rival,  Partab  Singh. 

Meanwhile  Dupleix  was  busy  weaving  a  larger  web  of  the 
same  kind,  in  concert  with  Chanda  Sahib,  son-in-law  of  a 
former  Nawab  of  Arkot,  and  for  some  j-ears  past  a  state 
prisoner  at  the  court  of  Satara.  The  recent  death  of  the 
old  Niziim-ul-Mulk,  Chin  Kilich  IQian,  enabled  the  plotters 
to  push  their  scheme.  Set  free  by  the  Frenchman's 
intercession,  Chanda  Siihib  made  common  cause  with  the 
Nizam's  grandson,  Mozaffar  Jang,  against  his  uncle  Nasir 
Jang,  the  rival  claimant  to  the  throne  of  the  Daldian.  At 
the  head  of  a  largo  force,  aided  by  a  choice  French  con- 
tingent, these  two  princes  entered  the  Carnatic,  and  gave 
battle  to  Anwar-ud-din,  whose  fall  completed  their  victory. 
The  chief  honours  of  the  day  were  won  by  M.  de  Bussy, 
whose  name  was  soon  to  figure  prominently  in  the  wars  of 
the  Dakhan.  Marching  on  to  Arkot,  Mozafi'ar  Jang  pro- 
claimed himself  Subadar,  or  Viceroy  of  the  Dakhan,  with 
Chanda  Sahib  as  ruler  of  the  Carnatic  in  his  name.  In 
proof  of  the  latter's  gratitude  Dupleix  himself  was  endowed 
with  the  lordship  of  eighty-one  villages  ai-ound  his 
capital.* 

Meanwhile  Nasir  Jang  was  raising  a  mighty  army  for 
the  purpose  of  crushing  his  rival  ;  and  Mohammad  Ali,  a 
son  of  the  dead  Nawab,  had  not  asked  in  vain  for  the 
help  of  English  bayonets  from  Madras.  When  the  op- 
posing armies  were  near  each  other,  a  mutiny  in  the  French 

*  Malleson's  "  French  in  India  "  chap   vi. 


182  HISTORY    OF    IXDU. 

contingent  spread  dismay  among  their  allies.  Chanda 
Sahib  bravely  covered  the  retreat  of  the  French  in  the 
face  of  Morari  Rao  and  his  swift  Maratha  horsemen ;  but 
Mozaflar  Jang  suiTendered  to  his  uncle,  who  loaded  him 
with  irons  after  having  sworn  upon  the  Koran  to  let  bim 
go  free. 

Nothing,  however,  seemed  to  daunt  or  overthrow  Da- 
pleis.  He  brought  the  leading  mutineers  to  a  stem  reckon- 
ing, and  shamed  their  followers  back  into  the  paths  of 
discipline.  His  envoys  took  high  ground  in  treating  with 
Nasir  Jang.  His  trustiest  messengers  held  secret  con- 
ference with  discontented  nobles  in  Nasir's  camp.  A  few 
hundred  of  his  soldiers  beat  up  the  quarters  of  Morari 
Rao,  and  frightened  Nasir  Jang  himself  into  a  swift 
retreat  from  the  neighbourhood  of  Pondicherry.  He 
shipped  off  five  hundred  Frenchmen  and  Sepoys  to  re- 
capture Masulipatam  from  the  Moghals.  With  a  force  no 
larger  D'Auteuil  dared  the  attack  of  Mohammad  All's 
thii-ty  thousand  men,  including  two  thousand  English  and 
Sepoys.  When  the  latter  had  withdrawn  in  dudgeon 
fi'om  the  camp  of  their  headstrong  ally,  D'Auteuil  himself, 
emboldened  by  the  arrival  of  fresh  succours  from  Pondi- 
cherry, moved  out  against  the  Nawab,  and  drove  his  army 
like  a  flock  of  frightened  sheep  across  the  Panar.  A  few 
days  afterwards  some  fifteen  hundred  Frenchmen  and 
Sepoys,  led  by  the  skilful  Bussy,  scattered  ten  thousand 
of  Mohammad  All's  warriors,  who  had  rallied  under  the 
walls  of  Jinji ;  and,  strengthened  at  the  right  moment  by 
fresh  troops,  Bussy's  heroes  not  only  entered  the  town, 
but  carried  the  rock-fortress  which  Sivaji  had  won  through 
fraud,  and  Aurangzib's  best  commander  had  retaken  only 
after  a  long  blockade. 

Disturbed  by  these  successes,  the  master  of  the  Dakhan 
began  to  treat  with  his  daring  assailants.  But  the  terms 
on  which  Dupleix  insisted  were  still  too  hard  for  his 
digestion.     At  the  head  of  a  combined  host  of  Moghals, 


THE    FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH    IN    INDIA.  183 

Pathans,  and  Marathas,  he  continued  his  advance  on 
Jinji.  But  the  traitors  in  his  camp  were  numerous,  and 
Dupleis  was  not  a  man  to  stick  at  scruples  in  pursuit  of 
a  given  end.  Ere  long  the  Subadar  was  ready  to  yield  all 
that  the  Frenchman  had  asked.  But  his  ofl'ers  came  too 
late.  Before  a  messenger  from  Dupleix  could  reach  the 
French  camp,  a  signal  from  the  plotting  nobles  in  that  of 
Nilsir  Jang  had  brought  the  French  commander  up  to  the 
scene  of  action.  In  the  fight  that  ensued  between  his 
troops  and  the  enemy  the  Pathans  and  Marathas  took  no 
part.  Guessing  too  late  the  meaning  of  their  inaction,  the 
angi-y  Subadar  rode  up  to  the  traitor  chiefs,  and  scolded 
one  of  them,  the  Nawab  of  Kadapah,  for  his  cowardice. 
A  bullet  in  his  heart  was  the  Nawab's  reply.  In  a  few 
minutes  the  dead  man's  rival,  Mozaffar  Jang,  found  himself 
transformed  from  a  prisoner  in  chains,  under  peril  of 
instant  death,  into  the  newly-elected  Subadar  of  the 
Dakhan. 

When  the  fight  was  over  the  new  Subadar  set  off  for 
Pondicherry,  where  Dupleix,  with  much  pomp  and  pa- 
geantry, installed  him  in  his  uncle's  place.  Dupleix 
himself,  decked  out  in  the  robes  of  a  Mohammadan 
"Amrah,"  or  baron  of  the  highest  class,  was  invested 
with  the  government  of  all  the  Moghal  dominions  to  the 
south  of  the  Kistna.  Chanda  Sahib,  as  Nawab  of  the 
Carnatic,  became  the  new  governor's  acknowledged  vassal. 
The  bestowal  of  a  goodly  ja^ir  or  fief  on  Dupleix  himself, 
a  handsome  present  in  money  to  his  oificers  and  men,  and 
the  assignment  of  fresh  districts  to  the  Company  under 
whose  flag  they  had  fought,  filled  up  the  ungrudging 
measure  of  the  Subadar's  gratitude  to  bis  French  alhes. 
At  that  moment  the  fame  and  influence  of  Dupleix  had 
reached  their  highest  point.  Through  his  own  skilful 
daring,  seconded  by  a  mere  handful  of  his  countrymen, 
the  son  of  a  French  merchant  had  become  the  ruler  of  broad 
provinces  and  the  patron  of  the  lord  of  Southern  India. 


184  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Accompanied  by  a  small  force  of  French  and  Sepoys 
under  Bussy,  tlie  new  Subadar  set  out  in  the  first  daj-s  of 
1751  for  his  own  capital  of  Aurangiibad.  But  the  Pathan 
chiefs  who  had  compassed  the  death  of  Nasir  Jang  were 
already  plotting  against  his  successor,  who  had  stinted 
them  of  their  expected  rewards.  Their  treachery  dis- 
covered, they  were  attacked  and  defeated  by  Bussy's 
soldiers  ;  but  Mozaffar  Jang,  in  the  eagerness  of  pursuit, 
was  slain  by  the  hard-pressed  Nawab  of  Kamiil,  who  a 
moment  after  shared  his  victim's  fate.  Amidst  the  con- 
fusion caused  by  this  event  Bussy  showed  himself  equal  to 
the  need.  With  the  consent  of  his  Moghal  aUies,  Salabat 
Jang,  a  younger  brother  of  Nasir  Jang,  was  straightway 
advanced,  Uke  his  late  nephew,  from  a  prison  to  the  vacant 
throne. 


185 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE  FIGHT  BETWEEN  FRENCH  AND  ENGLISH. 

At  the  time  of  Salabat  Jang's  accession  to  the  throne  of 
the  Dakhan,  Mohammad  Ali  was  intriguing  with  the  Eng- 
lish at  Madras  against  his  successful  rival,  Chanda  Sahib. 
As  soon  as  the  hour  seemed  ripe  for  action,  he  threw  off 
the  mask  of  apparent  readiness  to  make  peace  with  his 
opponents,  and  refused  to  yield  up  Trichinopoly  on  any 
terms  to  the  rival  Nawab.  Once  more,  therefore,  the 
French  and  English  were  aiTanged  in  arms  under  oppos- 
ing flags.  While  Chanda  Sahib,  aided  by  a  few  hundred 
Frenchmen,  was  advancing  on  Trichinopoly,  a  small 
English  force  marched  ofl'  to  strengthen  the  native  de- 
fenders of  that  place,  and  a  somewhat  larger  body  took 
the  field  in  concert  with  tlieir  native  ally.  The  latter 
force,  however,  crowned  their  defeat  before  Volkonda  by 
an  ignominious  retreat  upon  Trichinopoly  ;  and  the  troops 
of  Chanda  Sahib  promised  themselves  an  easy  capture  of 
his  rival's  last  stronghold. 

But  fortune  and  the  skilful  soldiership  of  two  brave 
Englishmen  were  to  spoil  their  reckonings.  Captain 
Robert  Clive,  who  had  already  earned  some  laurels  before 
PondicheiTy  and  at  Devikatta,  now  urged  Mr.  Saunders, 
the  able  Governor  of  Madras,  to  save  Trichinopoly  by 
making  a  dash  at  Arkot.  With  200  Englishmen,  800 
Sepoys,  and  eight  guns,  he  was  allowed  to  save  Trichino- 
poly in  his  own  way.  Ih  the  midst  of  a  fearful  thunder- 
storm bis  daring  band  presented  themselves  at  the  gates 
of  Chanda  Sahib's  capital.    The  astonished  gan-ison  offered 


18G  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

no  resistance  to  men  who  could  thus  brave  the  wrath  of 
the  storm-god.  Once  master  of  the  fort,  which  was  more 
than  a  mile  round,  Clive  set  hard  to  work  at  strengthening 
its  weak  defences.  The  task  seemed  well-nigh  hopeless, 
but  a  master-mind  had  taken  it  firmly  in  hand.  In  spite 
of  Dupleix's  entreaties,  Chanda  Sahib  detached  some 
thousands  of  his  best  troops,  under  his  son,  Rajah  Sahib, 
to  deal  with  Clive.  For  seven  weeks  the  little  garrison 
of  Arkot  withstood  the  assaults  of  10,000  men,  aided 
by  a  powerful  battering-train  ;  their  numbers  reduced  by 
disease  and  wounds  to  120  Englishmen  and  200  Sepoys. 
The  succours  which  Mr.  Saunders  strained  every  nerve 
to  forward  from  Madras  were  beaten  back,  and  the  sup- 
plies of  the  garrison  were  running  very  short,  when  Kajah 
Siihib,  learning  that  the  Marathas  under  Morari  Eao 
were  advancing  to  raise  the  siege,  and  foiled  in  his  eflbrts 
to  win  the  place  by  treating  with  Clive  himself,  gave  the 
order  for  one  last  desperate  assault. 

On  the  25th  November,  the  fiftieth  day  of  the  siege,  his 
troops  rushed  forward  to  the  attack,  drunk  with  bhang 
and  religious  ardour.'''  For  many  hours  the  fight  raged 
at  every  assailable  point,  the  Sepoys  vving  with  then-  Eng- 
hsh  comrades  in  the  stoutness  of  their  resistance  to  almost 
crushing  odds.  In  their  attempts  to  crown  the  breaches, 
the  assailants  were  swept  down  by  an  unceasing  fire  of 
muskets  and  guns,  each  man  of  the  httle  garrison  having 
spare  muskets  ready  to  his  hands,  while  Chve  himself 
worked  like  a  common  gunner.  At  last  the  attack  died 
away,  the  town  itself  was  abandoned  during  the  night,  and 
the  next  morning  saw  Kajah  Sahib's  shattered  forces  re- 
treating on  Vellor. 

The  news  of  this  heroic  defence,  maintained  by  a  hand- 
ful of  men  and  half  a  dozen  EugUsh  otficers,  mostly  raw 
volunteers,  under  a  captain  who  had  never  before  set  a 

*  It  was  the  d.iy  of  the  great  Mnssidman  feast  in  memory  of  the 
niai-tvved  sou  of  Ali. 


THE    FIGHT    BETWEEN    FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH.  187 

full  company  in  the  field,  turned  in  favour  of  the  English 
that  tide  of  native  feeling  which  had  hitherto  been  setting 
strongly  against  them.  Reinforced  fi'om  Madras,  Clive 
started  off  in  pursuit  of  his  late  assailants,  turned  their 
flank  with  the  aid  of  his  Marathas,  and  di-ove  them,  with 
the  loss  of  all  their  guns,  fi-om  the  field.  Another  gi-eat 
victoi-y  over  Rajah  Sahib  and  his  French  allies  at  Kavari- 
pak,  on  the  road  from  Conjeveram  to  Ai'kot,  left  CUve 
free  to  arrange  with  Mi-.  Saunders  for  the  relief  of  Trichi- 
nopoly,  then  closely  blockaded  by  the  troops  of  Chanda 
Sahib  and  M.  Law. 

At  that  moment,  however,  another  brave  Englishman, 
Major  Lawrence,  the  victor  of  Devikatta,  who  had  mean- 
while gone  home  to  England,  reappeared  on  the  scene,  as 
commander  of  the  troops  destined  for  the  relief  of  Tri- 
chinopoly.  With  the  hero  of  Ai-kot  for  his  trusty  lieu- 
tenant, he  was  not  likely  to  fail  without  good  cause. 
Trichinopoly  was  soon  reheved  ;  and  the  French,  defeated 
or  out-generalled  at  every  turn,  and  cooped  up  at  last  in 
an  island  between  two  rivers,  gave  themselves  up  to  Law- 
rence as  prisoners  of  war.  Forty-one  guns,  with  heaps  of 
warUke  stores,  were  included  among  the  spoUs.  Meanwhile 
the  luckless  Chanda  Sahib,  who  had  surrendered  to  the 
general  commanding  the  native  contingent  from  Tanjor, 
under  a  solemn  promise  that  his  life  should  be  spared, 
was  straightway  put  to  death  by  order  of  his  perjured 
captor,  and  his  head  was  forwarded  as  a  welcome  present 
to  Mohammad  Ali.* 

Foiled  in  his  best  efforts,  Dupleix  would  not  be  dis- 
heartened. The  son  of  Chanda  Sahib  was  at  once  pro- 
claimed Xawab  in  his  father's  stead.  Morari  Rao  and  the 
Regent  of  Maisor  soon  turned  against  their  late  ally.     The 

*  Lawrence  has  teen  blamed  by  Colonel  MaUeson  for  conniving  at 
this  piece  of  treacherj- ;  but  Orme's  statement  hardly  bears  out  the 
charge.  The  Nawab  surrendered  not  to  the  English,  but  to  the  forces 
of  Mohammad  Ali. 


1S8  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

repulse  of  an  English  attack  upon  Jinji  encouraged  the 
French  and  their  aUics  to  renew  the  siege  of  Tricbinopoly. 
For  two  more  years  strife  raged  in  the  Caraatic,  Clive  and 
Lawrence  losing  no  chance  of  adding  to  their  old  renown, 
while  the  prompt  courage  of  an  English  subaltern,  Lieu- 
tenant Harrison,  saved  the  fort  of  Trichinopoly  from 
almost  certain  capture. 

Meanwhile  Bussy's  tact  and  boldness  had  served  his 
country  well  at  the  court  of  Salabat  Jang.  In  spite  of 
secret  foes  and  open  assailants,  he  bad  not  only  upheld 
bis  own  nominee  on  the  throne  of  the  Dakhan,  but  bad 
even  won  for  himself  the  government  of  four'  fertile  dis- 
tricts lying  between  the  Eastern  Ghats  and  the  Bay  of 
Bengal,  and  stretching  for  nearly  500  miles  from  the 
Kistna  northward  to  Ganjam.  This  valuable  tract  of 
country,  since  known  as  the  Northern  Sarkars,  surpassed 
in  extent  and  value  the  dominions  which  any  other  Euro- 
pean power  had  hitherto  swayed  in  India. 

But  a  cruel  blow  was  already  being  aimed  at  Dupleix's 
ambition  and  the  power  he  had  striven  so  hard  to  esta- 
blish. While  the  siege  of  Trichinopoly  was  yet  languidly 
going  forward,  there  arrived  at  Pondicherry,  in  August, 
1754,  a  special  envoy  empowered  by  the  French  Govern- 
ment to  treat  with  Mr.  Saunders  for  a  speedy  end  to  the 
strife  between  French  and  English  on  the  Coromandel 
coast.  M.  Godeheu,  himself  a  director  of  the  French 
company,  entered  with  a  will  on  his  appointed  task.  The 
truce  to  which  both  parties  presently  agreed  was  followed 
in  December  by  a  formal  treaty,  which  bound  both  ahke 
to  refrain  from  mixing  in  the  quarrels  of  native  princes, 
and  virtually  to  accept  Mohammad  Ali  as  the  rightful 
Nawab.  Each  side  was  to  retain  its  present  winnings 
until  arrangements  could  be  made  for  readjusting  their 
several  shai-es.  Godeheu,  in  short,  surrendered  almost 
everything  for  which  Dupleix  had  so  long  fought  and 
schemed,  with  var^-ing  fortune,  but  with  unflinching  zeal. 


THE    FIGHT    BET^\'EEN    FKEN'CH    AND    ENGLISH.  189 

But  more  to  the  English  than  all  their  other  gains  was  the 
recall  of  the  daring  statesman  who  had  dreamed  of  build- 
ing up  a  great  French  empire  in  Southern  India.  The 
supplanted  Governor  of  Pondicherry  went  home  poor  and 
in  debt,  to  meet  with  a  chilling  welcome  from  the  com- 
panj-  he  had  served  so  well,  to  plead  in  vain  for  repay- 
ment of  the  great  sums  he  had  spent  out  of  his  own  for- 
tune on  their  account,  and  to  die  at  last  in  disgi'ace  and 
almost  beggary,  with  the  debtors'  prison  already  staring 
him  in  the  face. 

The  treaty  thus  concluded  was  soon  broken.  The 
Regent  of  Maisor,  on  the  strength  of  a  promise  once  made 
by  Mohammad  Ali,  pressed  his  claim  to  Trichinopoly, 
which  the  English  refused  to  render  up.  An  English 
force  set  out  early  in  1755  to  help  Mohammad  Ali  in 
exacting  tribute  from  the  Palikars  of  Tinivalli  and  Madura. 
The  French  in  their  turn  gathered  rents  on  behalf  of  the 
Eegent  of  Maisor,  and  even  threatened  Trichinopoly  itself. 
Early  in  the  next  year  a  movement  of  the  English  against 
Vellor  was  thwarted  by  the  fh-mness  of  De  Leyrit,  who 
had  succeeded  Godeheu  as  Governor  of  Pondichen-y. 
Before  the  year's  end  it  was  known  that  France  and 
England  were  again  at  war,  and  De  Leyrit  lost  no  time 
in  acting  upon  that  knowledge.  ■\^Tiile  the  English  were 
engaged  elsewhere  in  helping  the  Nawiib  against  his  own 
subjects,  a  strong  force  of  French  sjid  Sepoys  once  more 
endangered  the  safety  of  Trichinopoly.  But  the  brave 
Captain  Calliaud,  by  a  skilful  movement,  circumvented 
the  French  commander,  and  forced  him  to  retire  to  Pon- 
dicherrv.  For  this  repulse  the  French  consoled  them- 
selves by  a  series  of  successful  raids  elsewhere,  and  the 
last  days  of  1757  left  them  masters  of  nearly  all  the 
stron"  places  in  the  dominions  of  Mohammad  Ali,  while 
Bussv  easily  maintained  his  hold  on  the  Northern  Sarkars. 

Meanwhile  Bengal  had  become  the  scene  of  a  struggle 
on  whose  issue  rested  the  future  of  all  India.     In  April, 


11)0  niSTORY    OF    INDIA. 

175G,  Alivardi  Klmn,  the  able  and  stont-hearted  Subadar 
of  Bengal,  was  succeeded  by  his  favourite  grandson, 
Suraj-ud-daula,  a  youth  whose  feeble  intellect  and  im- 
perious temper  had  not  been  improved  by  a  long  course 
of  debauchery  and  freedom  from  all  control.  One  of  his 
first  acts  as  Subadar  was  to  demand  from  Mr.  Drake,  the 
Governor  of  Fort  William,  the  immediate  surrender  of  a 
Hindu  refugee,  son  of  the  wealthy  governor  of  Dacca,  and 
the  destruction  of  all  the  new  defences  which  Mr.  Drake 
was  accused  of  having  erected  round  Calcutta.  Enraged 
at  the  Englishman's  evasion  of  the  former  demand,  he  led 
an  army  of  fifty  thousand  men  against  a  settlement  in 
every  way  ill-prepared  to  defend  itself.  A  garrison 
reduced  by  neglect  to  174  men,  weak  defences,  bad 
gunpowder,  cowardice  among  the  leaders,  disorder  and 
mismanagement  everywhere,  all  combined  to  render  the 
fort  and  city  an  easy  prey  to  the  furious  Subadar.  On 
the  19th  June  a  general  rush  of  men,  women,  and  children, 
to  get  on  board  the  shipping  in  the  river,  was  followed  by 
the  flight  thither  of  Mi'.  Drake  and  the  military  com- 
mandant. 

Thus  shamefuUy  abandoned,  Mr.  Holwell,  the  ablest 
civil  officer  left  behind,  took  command  of  the  weakened 
garrison,  and  prepared  to  defend  the  fort.  But  everything 
was  against  him.  Blind  to  all  his  signals  of  distress,  the 
captains  of  the  vessels,  which  had  dropped  two  miles  dovra 
the  river,  made  no  attempt  to  succour  then-  deserted  country- 
men. The  soldiers,  who  for  two  or  three  days  had  repulsed 
the  enemy's  attacks,  at  length  broke  into  the  liquor-stores, 
and  became  too  drunk  for  further  resistance.  WhOe  Mr. 
Holwell  was  yet  pai'leying  with  the  besiegers,  some  of  the 
latter  rushed  into  the  scene  of  disorder,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  Fort  William,  with  all  its  surviving  defenders,  fell 
into  the  conqueror's  hands. 

But  the  survivors  had  yet  to  taste  the  full  measure  of 
then-  misfortunes.      On  one  of  the  hottest  nights  in  the 


THE    FIGHT    BETWEEN    FRENCH    AND    ENGLISH.  191 

year,  when  the  climate  of  Bengal  had  changed  from  the 
heat  of  an  open  furnace  to  that  of  a  well-warmed  hot- 
house, a  himdi-ed  and  forty-sis  prisoners,  including  one  or 
two  women,  were  shut  up  in  an  old  guard-room,  or  black- 
hole  for  soldiers,  less  than  eighteen  feet  square,  into  which 
the  air,  yet  further  heated  by  the  flames  of  burning  ware- 
houses, crept  through  two  small  windows  strongly  barred. 
None  but  the  strongest  and  those  who  kept  nearest  the 
windows,  had  a  chance  of  living  through  that  awful  night. 
In  the  fight  for  life  that  went  on  from  houi-  to  hour,  few 
heeded  other  tortures  than  their  own.  The  living  trampled 
on  the  dying  and  the  dead  in  their  eflbrts  to  reach  the 
windows,  or  to  get  at  the  water  handed  in  to  them  through 
the  bars.  Mad  with  thirst,  fever,  pain,  and  the  fearful 
stench,  many  of  them  sought  to  end  their  sufferings  by 
provoking  the  guards  outside  to  fii-e  upon  them.  But 
their  inhuman  jailors  laughed  the  louder  at  their  revilings, 
held  hghts  to  the  windows  the  better  to  enjoy  the  dreadful 
scene  within,  and  gloated  over  the  sight  of  thirsty  wretches 
fighting  for  the  water  with  which  they  were  kept  supplied.* 
Next  morning,  when  the  Subadar  had  slept  off  the  efi'ects 
of  last  night's  debauch,  there  crawled  out  of  that  den  of 
horrors  Holwell  himself,  with  twenty-one  men  and  one 
woman,!  most  of  them  hardly  more  alive  than  the  dead 
who  lay  heaped  up  in  noisome  ghastliness  within. 

Holwell  and  four  others,  including  the  woman,  were 
carried  ofi',  in  irons,  to  Murshidabad  ;  but  the  rest  were 
allowed  to  make  their  way  to  the  ships,  which  forthwith 
dropped  down  to  Falta,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Hiighli. 
Three  months  afterwards  Holwell  and  three  of  his  fellow- 

*  Mr.  Holwell,  one  of  the  survivors,  wrote  a  detailed  account  of  the 
horrors  of  that  memorable  night  in  language  all  the  more  powerful 
for  its  unadorned  simplicity. 

t  Mrs.  Carey,  whose  husband,  a  sea-officer,  died  in  the  Black  Hole. 
When  the  survivors  were  released,  she  herself  being,  In  Holwell'a 
words,  "too  yormg  and  handsome,"  was  reserved  for  the  Prince's 
baram  at  Murshidabad. 


192  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

suflferers  were  finally  set  free.  It  was  not  till  the  middle 
of  December  that  the  English  refugees  at  Falta  descried 
the  fleet  which  Admiral  Watson  had  led  oat  from  Madras 
two  months  before,  laden  with  the  troops  destined  to 
retrieve  the  disasters  of  the  previous  June,  and  to  pave 
the  nay  for  the  conquest  of  Hindustan.  Their  commander. 
Colonel  Clive,  who  had  returned  to  India  in  1755  as 
Governor  of  Fort  St.  David,  and  had  since  shared  with 
Admiral  Watson  in  the  taking  of  Giriah,"  lost  no  time  in 
adding  to  his  old  renown.  The  fort  of  Baj-baj,  a  little 
way  up  the  river,  was  soon  taken  by  his  troops  and  a  body 
of  seamen.  On  the  2nd  of  January,  1757,  Calcutta  and 
Fort  William  fell  once  more  into  English  hands.  Hughli 
itself  was  stormed  on  the  10th  by  Clive"s  best  subaltern. 
Captain  Eyre  Coote,  the  future  opponent  of  Haidar  Ali. 

Enraged  at  these  unforeseen  reverses,  Suraj-ud-daiila 
led  a  large  army  towards  Calcutta,  masking  his  purpose  by 
a  show  of  listening  to  the  peaceful  overtures  from  the 
Calcutta  Council.  At  length,  impatient  of  further  dallying 
with  a  treacherous  foe,  CUve,  on  the  4th  FebruaiT,  made  a 
determined  assault  on  the  Moghal  camp.  A  heavy  fog 
maiTed  the  full  execution  of  a  well-conceived  movement, 
and  after  some  hard  fighting  Clive  withdrew  his  troops. 
But  the  frightened  Subadi'ir  had  no  mind  to  renew  the 
struggle  with  such  foes.  Drawing  ofi'  his  army  to  a  safe 
distance  from  Calcutta,  he  ofi'ered,  this  time  sincerely,  to 
make  peace.  On  the  9th  February  was  concluded  a  treaty 
which  restored  to  the  English  all  their  former  privileges 
and  factories,  gave  them  full  permission  to  fortify  Calcutta, 
to  coin  money  at  their  own  mint,  and  promised  in  some 
measure  to  make  good  their  recent  losses. 

•  See  book  iii.  chap.  8. 


193 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    ENGLISH    TBIDMPHANT 1757-17r)l. 

By  this  time  Calcutta  had  learned  the  news  of  another 
war  in  Europe  between  France  and  England.  Instead  of 
returning  to  Madras,  Clive  at  once  resolved  to  attack  the 
French  settlement  of  Chandanagor,  on  the  Hiighh.  The 
faithless  Suhadar,  on  the  other  hand,  was  aheady  plotting 
with  Bussy  against  his  new  friends,  while  the  Calcutta 
Council,  led  by  the  wretched  Drake,  were  bent  on  pledging 
their  countrymen  to  remain  strictly  neutral  towards  the 
French  in  Bengal.  But  CUve's  forecasting  energy  over- 
rode all  obstacles,  and  the  way  was  further  cleared  for 
nim  by  a  threatening  letter,  in  which  Admiral  Watson 
told  the  Subadar  that,  if  any  more  plottings  went  on  with 
the  French,  he  would  "  kindle  such  a  flame  in  the  country 
as  all  the  waters  of  the  Ganges  should  not  be  able  to 
extinguish."  A  humble  answer  from  the  frightened  Suraj- 
ud-daula  removed  the  last  scruples  from  the  mind  of  the 
honest  sailor,  who  forthwith  went  heartily  to  work  in  aid 
of  his  less  scrupulous  colleague. 

On  the  14th  March  Chve  made  his  fii-st  movement 
against  the  fort  of  Chandanagor.  On  the  17th  his  bat- 
teries opened  their  fire,  to  which  the  defenders  kept  up  for 
some  days  a  spirited  reply.  It  was  not  till  the  23rd 
that  Watson  could  bring  two  of  his  men-of-war  alongside 
the  fort ;  but  a  few  broadsides  from  the  Kent  and  Tiger 
wrought  such  havoc  that  the  French  were  driven  to  treat 
for  a  surrender,  and  before  evening  Chandanagor,  with  its 

0 


194  HISTORY    OF   INDIA. 

brave  garrison  and  much  treasure,  had  passed  into  'Watson's 
hands,  not  without  heavy  loss  to  the  conquerors.* 

The  Subadilr  was  furious,  but  he  took  care  to  dissemble 
his  rage  and  hatred  of  the  victorious  Enghsh.  Cringing 
and  insolent  by  turns,  now  bribing  Bussy  to  come  and 
help  him  against  the  common  foe,  anon  seeking  to  lull 
Clive's  suspicions  by  letters  full  of  high-flown  compliments, 
now  threatening  the  English  factory  at  Kasimbazar,  anon 
sending  to  Calcutta  a  large  instalment  of  the  promised 
indemnity,  he  furnished  Clive  with  ample  pretexts  for 
treating  him  as  an  enemy  in  disguise.  The  Englishman, 
however,  for  all  his  courage  and  his  past  achievements, 
would  commit  himself  to  no  rash  movement  against  the 
ruler  of  a  rich  and  powerful  province  and  the  commander 
of  countless  legions.  He  preferred  to  meet  cunning  with 
cunning,  plots  with  plots ;  and  his  opponent's  folly  lent 
itself  to  alibis  schemes.  A  plot  for  the  Nawab's  dethrone- 
ment was  carried  on  between  the  Enghsh  leaders  and  some 
of  the  foremost  statesmen  and  richest  bankers  in  Bengal. 
It  was  agreed  that  Mir  Jafiir,  brother-in-law  of  the  late 
Subadar,  should  be  raised  to  the  forfeit  throne,  in  return 
for  vast  sums  of  money  payable  to  the  Enghsh  Company 
and  their  troops. 

The  plot  was  well-nigh  ripe  when  Amin  Chand,  a  rich 
Hindu  banker,  who  had  long  played  a  doubtful  part  both 
towards  the  English  and  his  own  sovereign,  threatened  to 
disclose  to  the  latter  all  that  he  had  somehow  learned, 
unless  his  silence  could  be  purchased  on  his  own  terms. 
Chve  at  once  resolved  to  outwit  him  with  his  own  weapons. 
Two  copies  of  the  secret  treaty  with  Mir  Jatiir  were  drawn 
up,  in  only  one  of  which  was  inserted  the  agreement  made 

•  Among  the  troops  employed  in  the  siege  were  the  Bengal  Bat- 
talion, afterwards  the  1st  Bengal  European  Fusiliers,  and  the  Bengal 
Sipahi  Battalion,  afterwards  the  1st  Bengal  Xative  Infantry.  The 
latter  regiment  had  been  raised,  armed,  and  drilled  like  an  English 
regiment  by  Clive  himself.  (Broome's  "  History  of  the  Bengal  Army," 
p.  92  and  116.) 


THE    ENGLISH    TEIXJltPHANT.  195 

witli  the  treacherous  Hindu.  Among  the  names  affixed 
to  this  document  was  that  of  Admiral  Watson,  forged 
apparently  by  Chve  himself  with  the  assent  of  his  more 
scrupulous  colleague.  In  excuse  for  the  part  borne  by 
CUve  in  these  crooked  proceedings,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  many  lives  of  Englishmen  and  natives  in  Bengal  were 
staked  on  the  good  faith  of  a  self-seeking  scoundrel,  who 
would  else  have  sold  to  their  worst  enemy  the  secret  he 
had  ferreted  out  for  himself. 

By  this  time  Sui'iij-ud-daula  had  heard  of  Ahmad  Shah's 
retreat  from  Dehli  into  Afghanistiin.  Danger  from  that 
quarter  he  no  longer  feared  ;  but  the  signs  of  danger 
nearer  home  had  begim  to  attract  his  notice ;  and  the 
flight  of  Watts,  the  EngUsh  agent,  from  Murshidabad 
seemed  to  confirm  his  worst  suspicions.  While  his  own 
troops  were  once  more  mustering  at  Plassy,  about  forty 
miles  to  the  south  of  Murshidabad,  Clive  was  preparing  to 
strike  the  blow  which  was  to  make  him  vii'tual  master  of 
Bengal.  On  the  18th  June,  1757,  he  marched  from  Chan- 
danagdr  at  the  head  of  1,000  Englishmen  and  about  2,000 
Sepoys,  and  ten  guns.  On  the  17th  the  fort  of  Katwa  was 
carried  by  his  troops  after  a  brief  resistance.  Here  the 
monsoon  or  rainy  season  burst  upon  them  with  a  violence 
which  for  a  moment  damped  the  spirits  of  their  bold 
leader  himself.  The  news  that  presently  reached  him  from 
Mir  Jaffir  did  httle  to  allay  his  new-born  doubts  and  mis- 
givings. Defeat  at  that  distance  from  all  support  meant 
utter  ruin  to  his  Httle  army  and  to  the  hopes  that  centred 
in  them.  He  wrote  for  help  to  the  Eajah  of  Bardwan. 
For  the  first  and  last  time  in  his  life  he  called  a  council  of 
war.  His  own  vote,  the  first  given,  was  in  favour  of 
halting  at  Katwa  until  the  close  of  the  monsoon.  In  spite 
of  the  counterpleadings  of  bold  Major  Coote,  twelve 
officers  out  of  nineteen  voted  with  Colonel  CUve. 

But  a  few  hours  later  the  cloud  had  passed  away  from 
his  soul,  and  the  order  was  given  for  his  troops  to  cross 
0  2 


19G  HISTOBY    OF    INDIA. 

the  river  next  morning.  A  long  march  of  fifteen  miles 
through  mud  and  water  brought  them,  at  one  in  the 
morning  of  the  23rd  June,  to  a  grove  of  mango  trees 
beyond  the  village  of  Plassy,  within  easy  hearing  of  the 
enemy's  drums.  The  left  of  his  little  army  rested  on  the 
Bhagirati  river.  A  mile  in  front  of  him  lay  the  enemy, 
50,000  strong  in  infantry  alone,  besides  18,000  horsemen 
from  the  north,  and  fifty-three  guns,  mostly  of  great  size. 

Soon  after  daybreak  the  hosts  of  Suraj-ud-daula  ad- 
vanced from  their  entrenchments  to  the  attack  ;  a  small 
party  of  Frenchmen  with  four  light  field-pieces  leading 
the  way.  By  eight  o'clock  the  latter  were  engaged  with  a 
small  body  of  English  well  posted  in  front  of  their  main 
line.  "When  the  enemy's  fire  became  too  hot  for  his  little 
force,  Clive  withdrew  to  the  safer  shelter  of  the  grove. 
For  some  hours  a  cannonade  was  kept  up  on  both  sides, 
with  little  damage  to  the  English,  who  from  behind  their  own 
breastworks  took  leisurely  aim  at  the  masses  in  their  front. 
At  noon  the  enemy's  ammunition  was  nearly  all  spoilt  by 
a  heavy  shower.  A  charge  of  the  enemy's  horse  was 
easily  repulsed,  and  the  fall  of  their  leader  himself  struck 
the  Subadar  with  sudden  terror.  By  two  p.m.  the  great 
bulk  of  his  troops  were  already  moving  from  the  field, 
while  their  panic-stricken  commander  led  the  way  with 
2,000  horse  to  his  own  capital  of  Murshidabad.  The 
French  withdrew  their  guns  into  the  entrenched  camp. 
Mir  Jaffir  Khan,  whose  movements  had  hitherto  puzzled 
the  English  commander,  at  length  drew  ofi'  his  otnti  men 
from  Clive's  right  flank.  No  longer  doubtful  of  tlie  issue, 
Clive  pushed  boldly  forward  against  the  entrenchments, 
where  the  French  still  bravely  held  their  ground.  Ere 
long  they  also  had  to  retii'e  without  their  guns.  By  five 
o'clock  the  victors  were  in  full  possession  of  the  enemy's 
camp  with  all  the  vast  wealth  it  contained  in  baggage, 
cattle,  guns,  and  warlike  stores.  The  victory  which  was  to 
seal  the  fate  of  India  had  been  won  with  a  loss  of  only 


THE  ENGLISH  TRIUMPHANT.  197 

twenty- three  soldiers  killed  and  forty-nine  wounded  on  the 
winning  side. 

Arrived  at  Murshidabad,  Suraj-ud-daula  took  counsel 
with  his  officers  of  state.  For  a  moment  the  bolder  policy 
recommended  bj'  some  of  them  revived  his  courage ;  but 
his  old  fears  and  suspicions  speedily  returned,  and  the 
next  night  he  fled  in  disguise  fi'om  his  palace,  only  to  fall 
a  few  days  later  into  the  hands  of  his  enemy  Mir  Jaffir, 
whose  son,  impatient  of  his  father's  kindlier  leanings, 
caused  the  grandson  of  his  father's  benefactor  to  be  privily 
put  to  death. 

Six  days  after  the  rout  of  Plassy,  CUve  entered  Mur- 
shidabad. Mir  Jaffir  was  formally  saluted  as  Kawab  of 
Bengal,  Bah;u',  and  Orissa,  and  steps  were  taken  to  fulfil 
the  compact  which  had  placed  him  on  his  kinsman's 
throne.  A  large  sum  of  money  was  at  once  sent  down  to 
Calcutta  in  part  payment  of  the  promised  compensation 
for  the  losses  suflered  in  1756.  On  the  East  India  Com- 
pany was  bestowed  the  fee  simple  of  the  land  for  six 
hundred  yards  around  the  Maratha  Ditch,  together  with 
revenue  rights  over  the  country  south  of  Calcutta.  The 
members  of  the  Calcutta  Council,  and  the  forces,  naval  and 
military,  received  handsome  presents.  The  conqueror  of 
Plassy,  who  might  have  helped  himself  to  untold  wealth 
out  of  the  royal  treasury,  was  content  to  accept  a  thank- 
offering  of  about  two  hundred  thousand  pounds.* 

It  was  now  time  to  undeceive  the  wi'etched  Amin  Chand. 
The  genuine  treatj-  was  produced  and  read.  On  discover- 
ing the  trick  which  had  been  played  upon  him,  Amin 
Chand  fell  senseless  to  the  ground.  The  shock  to  his 
avarice  may  have  weakened  his  wits ;  it  certainly  sent  Vijti-i 


*  To  those  who  afterwards  upbraided  him  with  his  greed,  he  indig- 
naDtly  repMed,  "When  I  recollect  entering  the  treasury  at  Murehi- 
dabdd,  with  heaps  of  silver  and  gold  to  the  right  hand  and  to  the  left, 
and  these  crowned  with  jewels,  I  stand  astonished  at  my  own  mode- 
ration." 


198  HISTOBY    OF    INDIA. 

on  a  pilgrimage  to  a  famous  Hindu  shrine  ;  but  it  did 
not  afterwards  keep  him  from  mixing  again  in  public 
affairs.* 

Clive  had  now  gained  for  his  countrymen  that  pre- 
eminence in  Bengal  which  Dupleix  had  once  secured  for 
the  French  in  Southern  India.  As  Governor  of  Fort  Wil- 
liam in  reward  for  his  brilliant  services,  he  lost  no  time 
in  following  up  his  late  achievements.  The  French  were 
hunted  out  of  Bahar  into  Audh  by  the  dogged  pertinacity 
of  Major  Coote.  Several  risings  against  the  new  Nawab  of 
Bengal  were  promptly  suppressed.  Colonel  Forde,  one  of 
CUve's  best  officers, was  sent  off  to  fight  the  French,  no  longer 
led  by  Bussy,  in  the  Northern  Sarkars.  By  a  series  of  bold 
movements  and  well-delivered  blows  that  dashing  com- 
mander wrested  Masuhpatam  from  the  French,  and  fright- 
ened the  Nizam,  Salabat  Jang,  into  ceding  a  large  tract  of 
adjacent  country  to  the  conquerors  of  his  late  friends.  Shah 
Alam,  son  of  the  puppet  Emperor  of  Dehli,  sought,  with  the 
help  of  the  Nawab  of  Audh,  to  carve  out  a  kingdom  for 
himself  in  Bengal.  But  the  mere  sound  of  Olive's  coming 
forced  him  to  raise  the  siege  of  Patna ;  the  army  he  had 
got  together  melted  away  before  the  swift  approach  of 
Clive's  warriors,  who  cared  nothing  for  heat  or  superior 
numbers  ;  and  the  prince  himself,  deserted  by  his  ally, 
was  glad  to  obtain  from  his  pursuer  the  means  of  con- 
tinuing his  homeward  flight.  For  this  fresh  service  Clive 
was  rewarded  by  Mir  Jaflu:  with  a  jagir  worth  about 
£25,000  a-year. 

But  the  new  Nawab  of  Bengal  had  not  yet  learned  the 
lesson  of  passing  events.  He  began  to  intrigue  with  the 
Dutch  at  Chinsura  against  the  power  to  which  he  owed 
everything.  A  Dutch  fleet  from  Java,  laden  with  troops, 
appeared  in  the  Hiighli.  There  was  then  no  war  between 
England  and  Holland,  and  Clive  had  some  private  reasons 

•  He  is  said  to  have  died  a  drivelling  idiot ;  bat  the  story  is  very 
doubtful.    See  Broome's  "  Bengal  Army,"  p.  154. 


THE  ENGLISH  TRIUMPHANT.  199 

for  avoiding  a  quarrel.*  But  he  met  the  danger  with 
his  wonted  readiness,  and  Dutch  outrages  provoked  the 
struggle  which,  as  a  statesman,  he  had  no  wish  to  avert. 
On  the  24th  November  six  out  of  seven  Dutch  men-of-war 
were  taken,  after  two  hours'  hard  fighting,  by  three 
English  ships  of  small  burden,!  and  the  seventh  was 
afterwards  caught  near  the  mouth  of  the  river.  On  the 
same  day  the  bold  Colonel  Forde  drove  the  Dutch,  with 
heavy  slaughter,  back  into  Chinsura ;  and  on  the  morrow 
another  force  of  Dutchmen,  Sepoys,  and  Malays,  was  well- 
nigh  destroyed  on  the  plain  of  Bidara  by  about  half  the 
number  of  English  and  native  troops  under  the  same 
leader.  Thoroughly  humbled,  the  Dutch  at  Chinsura 
sued  for  terms,  which  issued  in  a  treaty  binding  them  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  the  war,  to  discharge  the  bulk  of  their 
troops,  dismiss  the  vessels  which  Clive  engaged  to  restore, 
and  to  resume  the  footing  on  which  they  had  hitherto 
traded  in  Bengal. 

Early  in  the  next  year  Clive  sailed  for  England,  in  the 
flush  of  his  well-earned  fame,  at  the  age  of  thirty-four, 
to  receive  fresh  honours  from  his  admiring  countrymen. 
Meanwhile  in  Southern  India  also  the  tide  was  turning 
fast  and  finally  against  the  French.  Lally,  a  brave  but 
headstrong  soldier,  who  had  fought  in  the  Irish  Brigade  at 
Fontenoy,  strove  hard  but  vainly  to  stem  that  tide.  Fort 
St.  David  and  Devikatta  fell  before  his  arms.  The  siege 
of  Tanjor  was  raised  by  the  timely  intervention  of  an 
English  force ;  and  a  French  fleet,  which  might  have  done 
Lally  good  service,  sailed  oS"  at  a  critical  moment  to  the 
Isle  of  France.  Arkot,  on  the  other  hand,  was  surrendered 
to  the  French  by  Mohammad  Ali ;  and  Bussy,  who  had 
been  summoned  in  an  evil  hour  to  Lally's  aid  from  the 

•  The  bulk  of  his  wealth  had  just  been  remitted  to  Europe  through 
the  Dutch  East  India  Company. 

t  The  largest,  the  Calcutta,  measured  only  761  tons.  Four  of  the 
Dutchmen  carried  thirty-six  guns  a-piece,  and  two  more  twenty-sii 
guns.    (Broome's  "  Bengal  Army,"  chap.  3.) 


200  HISTORY   OF    INDIA. 

scene  of  his  own  successes,  vainly  attempted  to  dissuade 
his  headstrong  chief  from  undertaking  the  siege  of  Madras 
itself.  In  the  last  days  of  1758  Lally's  soldiers  took  up 
their  posts  in  front  of  a  stronghold  defended  by  the  veteran 
Colonel  Lawrence.  For  two  months  they  held  their  ground 
in  spite  of  the  resistance  offered  by  the  besieged,  and  the 
spirited  eflbrts  of  Major  Calliaud  to  annoy  the  besiegers 
from  behind.  In  February,  1759,  a  breach  was  made  in 
the  walls  of  the  Fort,  and  Lally  was  preparing  to  storm  it 
if  he  could,  when,  on  the  16th,  an  Enghsh  fleet  laden 
with  succours  anchored  in  the  Roads.  Next  day  the 
French  were  in  full  retreat  on  Arkot,  leaving  behind  them 
fifty-two  guns  and  many  of  their  sick  and  wounded. 

For  yet  another  year  the  fight  for  empire  in  Southern 
India  went  forward  to  issues  which  grew  daily  clearer. 
The  failure  of  the  English  in  their  fii-st  attack  on  Wandi- 
wash  was  brilhantly  retrieved  a  few  months  later  by 
Coote's  capture  of  that  place,  and  the  crushing  defeat  he 
afterwards  inflicted  on  a  French  force  which  ventured  to 
renew  the  siege.  Bussy  himself,  who  was  among  the 
prisoners,  was  generously  allowed  to  return  to  Pondicherry. 
One  strong  place  after  another  was  taken  or  retaken  by 
the  victorious  English.  With  the  fall  of  Karikal  in  April, 
1760,  the  French  had  little  more  to  lose  in  Southern 
India  besides  Pondicherry  itself.  Hampered  at  every  turn, 
now  by  want  of  stores  and  money,  anon  by  the  interference 
of  his  civil  colleagues,  or  the  mutinous  conduct  of  his  own 
ill-paid,  starving  troops,  LaUy  saw  his  prospects  growing 
darker  and  darker,  until  in  September  he  and  his  countn,' 
men  were  closely  besieged  in  their  Indian  capital  by  the 
foe  whom  he  had  so  lately  thought  to  di'ive  into  the  sea. 

In  vain  had  Lally  looked  round  among  the  native  princes 
to  help  him  in  his  hour  of  need.  Neither  from  Haidar 
Ali,  the  usurping  ruler  of  Maisor,  nor  from  Balaji  Rao, 
the  Maratha  Peshwa,  could  any  help  be  obtained.  Week 
after  week  saw  his  chances  grow  more  desperate,  as  the 


1 


THE    ENGLISH    TRIUMPHANT.  201 

English  drew  their  circles  closer  around  him,  and  the 
stock  of  food  for  his  garrison  melted  away.  Even  the 
great  storm  of  December,  which  destroyed  the  English 
batteries  and  sank  or  disabled  many  of  the  English 
ships,  brought  no  relief  to  the  despairing  garrison  and 
their  sick  commander.  At  length,  on  the  15th  January, 
1761,  when  his  stock  of  food  was  on  the  point  of  being 
exhausted,  Lally  offered  to  surrender.  Colonel  Coote 
would  listen  to  no  conditions,  and  Lally  could  only  bow  to 
his  fate.  Next  day,  when  the  English  marched  into  the 
surrendered  stronghold,  the  wasted  forms  and  wan  faces 
of  the  soldiers  drawn  up  to  receive  them  told  their  own 
tale. 

Pondicherry  was  afterwards  levelled  to  the  ground. 
Lally,  hooted  by  its  ungrateful  citizens,  withdrew  to 
Madras,  from  thence  to  Paris,  where  misfortune  still  dogged 
his  steps.  The  men  who  had  persistently  thwarted  him  in 
Pondicherry  sent  home  their  owa  version  of  past  events. 
Bussy  himself  made  common  cause  with  De  Leyrit's 
party  against  the  man  who  had  bravely  done  his  best  to 
save  French  India.  In  17GG,  after  languishing  for  three 
years  in  the  Bastille,  the  luckless  Irishman  paid  upon  the 
scaffold  the  penalty  in  France  so  often  awarded  to  ill- 
success. 

With  the  fall  of  Pondicherry  the  French  power  in  India 
passed  away.  Three  months  later  the  last  of  the  French 
garrisons  sun-endered  to  an  English  force ;  and  three 
years  after  the  death  of  Lally  the  Company,  which  had 
made  no  effort  to  save  one  of  its  ablest  servants,  was  itself 
consigned  to  extinction.  Thenceforth  the  history  of  India 
becomes  the  history  of  British  struggles  and  achievements 
in  the  path  marked  out  for  England  by  the  victory  of 
Plassy  and  the  rout  of  Piinipat. 


BOOK  IV. 

THE  RULE  OF  THE  COMPANY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    ENGLISH    IN    BENGAL 1761-1774. 

With  the  fall  of  Pondicherry  and  the  battle  of  Ptinipat,  two 
leading  events  in  the  history  of  the  same  year,  a  new 
power  has  begun  to  raise  its  head  among  the  peoples  and 
princes  of  India.  Before  tracing  the  further  growth  of 
that  power,  it  is  well  to  take  a  rapid  sniTey  of  Indian 
affairs  about  the  year  1761. 

If  the  strength  of  the  Marathas  was  cruelly  broken  by 
the  slaughter  of  Panipat,  the  empire  of  Dehli  had  already 
dwindled  away  to  a  few  districts  around  the  capital.  The 
Panjiib  was  ruled  by  the  Afghan  Ahmad  Shiih.  In  Sindh 
the  Talpur  chiefs  acknowledged  no  master.  Rohilkhand 
obeyed  the  orders  of  Xajib-ud-daula.  Shnja-nd-daula, 
the  Xawab  Yizier  of  Audh,  paid  the  merest  show  of 
obedience  to  his  titular  lord  at  Dehli.  The  Hindu  princes 
of  Rajputana  had  won  for  themselves  an  independence 
tempered  only  by  the  need  of  paying  now  and  then  the 
Maratha  chauth.  The  Maratha  power,  if  its  unity  was 
broken  at  Panipat,  still  swayed  under  separate  piinces  a 
vast  tract  of  country,  from  Gujarat  in  the  west  to  Tanjor 
in  the   south.      The  Gaikwar  reigned  in  Gujarat,  Smdia 


201 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


and  Holkar  divided  MiVlwa  between  them,  the  Bhosla 
dynasty  was  firmly  seated  in  Nagpiir,  Maratha  princes 
held  Tanjor  and  part  of  the  Camatie,  the  Rajahs  of  Kola- 
pur  and  Satara  were  still  supreme  along  the  Western  Ghats, 


I 


and  the  Peshwa  of  Piina  reigned  over  a  long  stretch  of 
country  from  the  borders  of  Maisor  to  Kalpi  and  Jhiinsi 
on  the  Jamna.  Orissa  itself  obeyed  the  Maratha  rule,  and 
nothing  hut  CHve's  firmness  had  deterred  the  Marathas 
from  continuing  to  levy  chanth  in  Bengal. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    BENGAL.  '205 

The  Juts,  a  warlike  tribe  of  Hindu  origin  from  the 
banks  of  the  Indus,  who  had  greatly  troubled  the  officers 
of  Aurangzib,  had  already  under  the  daring  Suraj  Mai 
founded  a  strong  state  between  Jaipur  and  Agra,  with 
Bhartpur  for  its  fortified  capital.  Salabat  Jang,  as  Nizam 
of  the  Dakhan,  ruled  over  a  dominion  sadly  crippled  by 
the  conquests  of  his  Maratha  neighbours.  In  Maisor  the 
ambitious  Mussulman  soldier,  Haidar  Ali,  had  already  won 
the  virtual  sovereignty  of  a  kingdom  hitherto  swayed  by  a 
long  succession  of  Hindu  Rajahs.  Mohammad  Ali,  under 
English  protection,  held  independent  rule  over  the  Carnatic 
from  the  Pamir  river  to  Tanjor.  The  little  states  of  Tra- 
vankor  and  Cochin  were  still  governed  by  Hindu  rulers. 
Goa  and  its  few  dependencies  belonged  to  Portugal.  Be- 
sides their  old  settlements  on  either  coast,  the  actual  pos- 
sessions of  the  English  were  confined  to  certain  districts 
around  Calcutta  and  in  the  Northern  Sarkiirs.  But  the 
rich  and  populous  provinces  of  Bengal  and  Bahar  were 
ruled  by  a  sovereign  of  their  own  choice,  upheld  on  his 
throne  by  British  bayonets,  and  liable  at  any  moment  to 
be  set  aside  by  those  who  had  placed  him  there.  It  was, 
in  short,  the  same  tenure  on  which  the  Nawab  of  the 
Carnatic  held  the  dominions  he  had  won  with  EngUsh  aid 
from  the  French  and  their  native  allies. 

Soon  after  his  bootless  raid  into  Bahar,  Shah  Alam, 
whose  real  name  was  Ali  Johar,  mounted  the  tottering 
throne  of  Dehli  in  the  room  of  his  murdered  father.*  Still 
hankering  after  Bengal,  and  afraid  to  enter  his  own  capital, 
he  marched  with  his  new  vizier,  Shuja-ud-daula,  and  a 
large  force  upon  Patna  in  the  first  days  of  1760.  De- 
feated, followed  up,  and  checked  at  every  turn  by  the 
active  Colonel  Calliaud,  he  made  a  bold  rush  back  from 
the  neighboui-hood  of  Mui'shidiibad  to  Patna  ;  and  that 
city,  closely  besieged  for  nine  days,  was  on  the  point  of 
falling,   when   Captain    Knox  with   200    Englishmen,    a 

*  Book  iii.  chap.  8. 


206  HISTOBY    OP    INDIA. 

regiment  of  Sepoys,  and  a  few  troops  of  horse,  came  up 
to  the  rescue  after  a  long  hurried  march  in  the  hottest 
season  of  the  year.  The  rout  and  final  scattering  of  Shah 
Alam's  troops  was  followed  up  by  a  yet  more  daring  attack 
on  the  30,000  men  and  thirty  guns,  which  the  Nawab  of 
Pamia  had  brought  up  too  late  to  the  emperor's  aid.  A 
fight  of  six  hours  ended  in  such  a  victory  for  the  handful 
of  Knox's  warriors,  as  clinched  the  hold  already  won  by 
like  feats  of  prowess  on  the  native  mind. 

Meanwhile  the  government  of  Mir  Jaffir  was  falling  into 
worse  and  worse  confusion.  The  death  of  his  son,  the  cruel, 
profligate,  but  stronghanded  Miran,  brought  matters  to  a 
speedy  crisis.  Mir  Kasim,  the  old  man's  son-in-law,  opened 
the  way  for  his  own  advancement  by  settling  out  of  his 
own  purse  the  arrears  of  pay  demanded  by  the  mutinous 
soldiery  of  Bengal.  His  schemes  for  the  dethronement  of 
his  weak  father-in-law  found  ready  countenance  at  Calcutta, 
where  Mr.  Vansittart  was  ruling  in  the  place  of  Clive.  In 
due  time  Mir  Jaffir  agi'eed,  however  reluctantly,  to  make 
way  for  Mir  Kasim ;  and  English  help  in  the  unpleasant 
business  was  repaid  by  the  addition  of  Midnapiir,  Bardwan, 
and  Chittagong,  to  the  realms  of  the  East  India  Company ; 
besides  a  gift  of  twenty  lakhs  of  rupees,  or  £250,000,  to 
Vansittart,  Holwell,  and  their  feUow-councUlors. 

But  the  bargain  thus  concluded  bore  little  fruit  for 
good.  It  was  not  long  before  the  new  Nawab  began  to 
aim  at  gradually  shaking  himself  free  from  British  control. 
He  transfeiTed  his  seat  of  government  from  Murshidabad 
to  Monghir.  His  troops  were  disciplined  on  the  English 
model  and  armed  with  muskets  better  than  those  which 
bore  the  Tower  mark.  A  foundry  for  casting  cannon  was 
secretly  set  at  work.  A  feithful  friend  of  the  English, 
Ramnarain,  Governor  of  Patna,  was  plundered  of  all  his 
wealth  with  the  assent  of  the  feeble  Vansittart,  in  spite  of 
the  efforts  made  by  English  officers  in  behalf  of  one  whose 
safety  had  been  guaranteed  by  the  Calcutta  Council. 


I 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    BENGAL.  207 

At  length  the  smouldering  quarrel  between  the  English 
and  Mir  Kasim  blazed  out  into  open  war.  A  dispute 
concerning  the  undue  extent  to  which  the  Company's 
servants  had  carried  their  right  of  exemption  from  transit 
duties  on  their  own  goods  was  inflamed  by  acts  of  violence 
on  both  sides.  One  Englishman  was  slain  in  a  scuffle ; 
Mr.  Ellis,  head  of  the  Patna  factory,  and  several  other 
gentlemen  were  taken  prisoners  after  a  vain  attempt  to 
seize  upon  the  city ;  some  of  the  leading  natives  in  Bengal 
shared  the  fate  of  their  English  friends;  and  before  the 
middle  of  1763  the  troops  on  both  sides  were  ready  to 
take  the  field. 

In  the  midst  of  the  heavy  July  rains  the  campaign  was 
opened  by  the  English,  who  drove  the  Nawab's  army  be- 
fore them  at  Katwa  on  the  19th,  entered  Murshidabad  a' 
few  days  later,  and  replaced  Mir  Jaffir,  now  old,  leprous, 
and  half-imbecile,  on  the  throne  he  had  been  forced  to 
abdicate  three  years  before.  A  second  victory,  won  at 
Giriah  on  the  2nd  August  after  a  hard  fight,  enraged 
Kasim  beyond  aU  bearing.  Eamnarain  and  the  great  Sett 
bankers  of  Murshidabad  were  thrown  into  the  Ganges; 
Eajah  EajbaUab,  another  old  friend  of  the  EngUsh,  was  put 
to  death  with  all  his  sons  ;  and  an  order  was  issued  for 
the  murder  of  every  EngUshman  imprisoned  at  Patna. 
When  Kasim's  own  officers  declined  to  do  such  butcher's 
work,  he  found  a  ready  instrument  in  Walter  Reinhardt,  a 
native  of  Lusembm-g,  who  had  deserted  from  one  service 
into  another  untU,  escaping  -with  Law's  small  band  of 
Frenchmen  from  Chandanagor,  he  rose  to  high  command 
under  Mir  Kasim.  The  nickname  of  Sombre,  which  his 
Swiss  or  Enghsh  comrades  at  Bombay  had  given  him 
for  his  dark  complexion  and  sullen  looks,  his  Bengali 
followers  had  turned  into  Sumru,  the  name  by  which 
English  writers  have  handed  him  down  to  lasting  infamy. 
This  merciless  ruffian,  whose  hatred  of  the  English  had 
helped  to  endear  him  to  his  new  master,  carried  out  so 


208  HISTORY    OF   DfDIi. 

thoroughly  his  savage  errand,  that  more  than  fifty  gentle- 
men and  a  hundred  soldiers  with  a  few  women  were  shot 
down  or  cut  to  pieces  in  cold  blood. 

This  happened  in  October,  a  few  weeks  after  Major 
Adams  with  3,000  men  had  utterly  routed  50,000  of  the 
enemy  near  Rajmahal,  with  the  loss  of  15,000  men  and  a 
hundred  guns.  On  the  6th  November  Patna  itself  was 
stormed  in  the  most  brilUant  style  by  Adams'  unquailing 
heroes ;  English  and  Sepoys  vying  with  each  other  in 
deeds  of  daring  against  formidable  odds.  A  week  later 
Adams  set  out  in  chace  of  the  disheartened  Nawab,  whose 
myriads  were  fast  melting  away  from  him  under  the  spell 
of  so  many  defeats.  Before  the  year's  end,  however,  Mir 
Kiisim  and  the  ruffian  Sumru  had  found  shelter  in  Audh 
under  the  wing  of  his  old  enemy  Shuja-ud-daula. 

Worn  out  with  toil  and  exposure,  Major  Adams  now 
threw  up  the  command  of  the  Httle  army  which  in  less 
than  five  months  he  had  led  from  Calcutta  to  the  Karam- 
nasa,  defeating  many  times  his  own  numbers  of  disciplined 
troops  in  two  pitched  battles,  carrying  four  strong  places 
by  siege  or  assault,  and  capturing  more  than  400  pieces 
of  cannon.  It  is  sad  to  think  that  the  foremost  hero  of  a 
campaign,  perhaps  the  most  brilliant  ever  fought  in  India, 
was  fated  never  to  enjoy  the  honours  he  had  so  richly 
earned.  Major  Adams  had  hardly  reached  Calcutta  on 
his  way  home,  when  he  died  amidst  the  unfeigned  regrets 
of  every  Enghshman  in  Bengal* 

Next  year  the  struggle  was  renewed  by  the  Nawab- 
Vizier  of  Audh,  who  marched  down  towards  the  Ganges 
with  the  wandering  Shah  Alam  and  the  ousted  Mir  Kasim 
in  his  train.  Chased  out  of  Bengal  in  1760,  and  shut  out 
by  the  Marathas  from  his  own  capital,  Shah  Alam  had 

*  Broome's  "  Bengal  Army,"  chap.  4.  "  What,"  asks  the  anthor, 
"  were  the  boasted  Indian  triumphs  of  Darius,  of  Alexander,  or  Seleucus 
Nicator,  with  their  powerful  and  disciplined  armies,  opposed  to  unwar- 
like  barbarians,  divided  amongst  themselves,  compared  to  this  single 
campaign  ?  " 


I 


THE  ENGLISH  IN  BENGAl.  209 

lingered  in  Bahar,  where  early  in  1761  he  was  twice  en- 
countered and  defeated  by  Major  Camac.  Among  the 
prisoners  taken  in  the  well-fought  action  at  Suan,  near  the 
city  of  Bahar,  was  the  brave  Frenchman  Law,  Chve's  old 
opponent  at  Plassy,  who  surrendered  only  on  condition  of 
keeping  his  sword.  The  beaten  emperor  at  length  made 
peace,  on  terms  which  left  him  free  to  mend  his  tattered 
fortunes  further  north,  with  the  help  of  a  modest  pension 
from  his  late  foes.  On  his  way  up  the  country,  however, 
he  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  Shuja-ud-daula,  who  kept 
guard  over  his  titular  sovereign  as  a  kind  of  prisoner  at 
large. 

On  the  approach  of  the  Nawab- Vizier's  army,  the  Eng- 
lish retired  into  Patna,  which  on  the  3rd  May,  1764,  was 
attacked  by  the  enemy  for  several  hours  with  more  of 
daring  than  success.  As  the  rainy  season  di-ew  near, 
Shujii-ud-daula  fell  back  to  Basar.  During  the  pause 
which  followed  the  outbreak  of  the  monsoon,  the  mutinous 
spirit  which,  earlier  in  the  year,  had  spread  for  a  time 
from  the  European  soldiers  to  their  native  comrades, 
broke  out  again  among  the  latter  with  such  violence,  that 
Major  Munro,  a  king's  ofBcer  who  had  just  replaced  the 
feebler  Carnac  in  the  chief  command,  was  diiven  to  quell 
it  by  blowing  the  ringleaders  away  from  the  cannon's 
mouth.  His  timely  firmness  nipped  the  new  danger  in 
the  bud.  The  mutineers,  who  seem  to  have  behaved  like 
pettish  children,  returned  at  once  to  their  duty,  and  Munro 
set  forth  in  October  towards  Basiir  with  a  force  of  about 
900  Europeans,  6,000  native  horse  and  foot,  and  twenty- 
eight  guns. 

On  the  23rd  he  fought  and  won  the  famous  battle  of 
Baxar  against  an  army  about  50,000  strong,  including 
Sumi'u's  disciplined  brigades,  and  thousands  of  Afghan 
horsemen  who  had  fought  under  Ahmad  Shah  at  Piinipat. 
A  hundred  and  thirty  guns,  mostly  of  large  calibre,  en- 
hanced the  odds  against  the  Enghsh  commander.    Nothing, 

p 


210  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

however,  could  withstand  Munro's  skilful  movements  and 
the  unfaltering  prowess  of  his  troops.  After  a  day's  hard 
fighting  the  Enghsh  saw  themselves  masters  of  a  field 
strewn  with  thousands  of  the  enemy's  dead.  Thousands 
more  perished  in  their  headlong  flight  across  a  neighbour- 
ing stream,  and  hut  for  the  breaking  of  a  bridge  by  Shu- 
jii's  order  a  vast  amount  of  treasure  would  have  swelled 
the  victor's  gains.  As  it  was,  however,  the  enemy's 
camp  and  a  hundred  and  thirty  guns  fell  into  their  hands. 
For  a  victory  which  placed  the  whole  of  Bengal  and  a 
great  part  of  Upper  India  at  their  mercy,  the  English  paid 
vrith  a  loss  of  847  in  killed  and  wounded. 

Shuja-ud-daula  fled  across  the  Gogra  into  Audh,  whOe 
the  English  marched  upon  Allahabad.  "Want  of  money 
kept  them  from  advancing  further,  and  time  was  wasted 
in  fruitless  negotiations  with  Shah  Alam,  who  had  now 
had  enough  of  Shnja's  protection,  and  with  the  Nawiib- 
Vizier,  who  declined  to  yield  up  Sumru  and  Mir  Kiisim, 
but  proposed,  of  course  in  vain,  to  despatch  the  former 
by  underhand  means.  Two  brave  but  unsuccessful  as- 
saults upon  the  rock-fortress  of  Chunar,  a  few  miles  above 
Banaras,  close  the  record  of  English  failures  and  successes 
for  this  year. 

Once  more  in  1765  the  Nawab-Vizier,  with  the  help  of  a 
Rohilla  force  from  Rohilkhand,  took  the  field,  while  Malhar 
Eao  was  bringing  up  his  Marathas  from  Gwalior  to  attack 
the  English  on  that  side.  But  Carnac,  who  had  taken 
the  command  vacated  by  Munro,  soon  di'ove  the  Marathas 
back  across  the  Jamna,  and,  after  beating  Shuja  himself 
in  several  encounters,  forced  him  to  make  peace  at  any 
cost  with  his  conquerors.  The  treatment  he  received  was 
merciful  enough,  for  Clive  had  once  more  appeared  upon 
the  scene.  In  the  month  of  May  the  victor  of  Plassy 
sailed  up  the  Hughli  as  Lord  Clive,  Governor  and  Com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  Company's  possessions  in  Bengal. 
The  years  he  had  spent  in  England  were  years  of  frequent 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    BENGAL.  211 

warfare  between  him  and  tlie  Court  of  Directors,  who 
begrudged  their  ablest  servant  the  estates  conferred  on 
him  by  their  Indian  allies.  But  Chve's  great  influence, 
and  the  course  of  later  events  in  Bengal,  had  at  last  com- 
pelled them  to  lay  aside  their  private  jealousies,  in  favour 
of  one  marked  out  by  the  common  voice  for  the  work  of 
restoring  order  and  good  government  on  that  side  of 
India. 

One  of  Olive's  first  acts  in  India  was  to  conclude  with 
the  suppUant  niler  of  Audh  a  treaty  which  surrendered  to 
the  Moghal  emperor  the  districts  of  Korah  and  Allahabad, 
assured  the  payment  of  fifty  lakhs  of  rupees  as  a  fine  to 
the  Company,  and  empowered  them  to  trade  free  of  duty 
throughout  the  Nawab's  dominions.  He  next  proceeded 
to  ratify  the  agreement  already  made  in  efi'ect  with  Shah 
Alam.  In  return  for  the  revenues  of  the  districts  ceded 
by  Shuja-ud-daula,  and  for  twenty-six  lakhs  a-year  from 
the  revenues  of  Bengal  and  Bahar,  the  emperor  on  the 
12th  August  formally  endowed  his  Enghsh  friends  with 
the  Dewani  or  virtual  government  of  Bengal,  Bahar,  and 
Orissa — provinces  which  then  contained  about  twenty-five 
million  souls,  and  yielded  a  revenue  of  four  millions  ster- 
ling. The  English,  on  the  other  hand,  agreed  to  furnish 
the  titular  Nawab  of  Murshidabad  with  the  means  of  sup- 
porting his  mock  sovereignty,  and  a  household  suited  to 
his  rank.  A  new  nominee  of  the  Company,  Najm-ud- 
daula,  had  just  been  raised  to  the  unreal  throne,  whence 
death,  hastened  by  the  insolence  of  English  greed,  had 
finally  removed  his  aged  father,  Mir  Jaffir.  As  for  the 
discrowned  esile,  Mir  Kasim,  he  had  ah-eady  exchanged 
the  cruel  guardianship  of  Shuja-ud-daula  for  a  life  of  un- 
heeded poverty  near  Banaras  ;  while  the  infamous  Sumru, 
scenting  danger  from  a  prolonged  stay  in  Audh,  had  just 
hired  out  his  services  to  the  Jats  of  Bhartpiir. 

Thus,  in  less  than  ten  years,  the  merchant-company 
whose  life-struggles  seemed  to  have  been  quenched  in  the 
p2 


212  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Black  Hole  of  Calcutta,  had  gone  so  far  on  its  new  career 
of  conquest  as  to  dictate  terms  to  half  the  princes  of 
India,  to  make  the  Moghal  emperor  himself  a  mere  pen- 
sioner and  footstool  of  his  English  heges,  and  to  thwart 
the  greatest  native  power  in  India,  the  Maratha  League, 
in  all  its  efforts  to  retrieve  the  disaster  of  Panipat.  "  We 
have  estahhshed,"  wrote  Clive  to  the  India  House,  "  sucb 
a  force  that  all  the  powers  in  Hindustan  cannot  deprive  us 
of  our  possessions  for  many  years."  Yet  Clive  himself 
could  not  or  would  not  see  the  goal  to  which  events  were 
already  bearing  the  foreign  masters  of  Bengal.  He  as- 
sured the  Court  of  Directors  of  his  firm  resolve  and  hope 
always  to  confine  their  possessions  to  the  provinces  he 
had  just  obtained  for  them.  To  go  any  farther  was  "  a 
scheme  so  extravagantly  ambitious  that  no  government  in 
its  senses  would  ever  dream  of  it." 

The  work  of  conquest  was  not,  however,  to  be  resumed 
by  Clive.  Far  other  tasks  devolved  upon  him  during  the 
brief  remainder  of  his  Indian  career.  A  serious  mutiny 
among  his  own  ofiBcers,  caused  by  a  reduction  of  their 
extra  pay  in  the  field,  had  to  be  encountered  with  a  strong 
hand  ;  but  Clive  was  equal  to  the  need.  The  mutiny  was 
promptly  quelled  with  the  aid  of  his  faithful  Sepoys  ;  * 
and  after  some  of  the  worst  offenders  had  been  cashiered 
by  court-martial,  the  rest  in  all  penitence  returned  to 
theii-  duty. 

A  yet  fiercer  lion  stood  in  Clive's  way.  The  Company's 
servants  in  Bengal  had  been  wont  to  eke  out  their  small 
salaries  by  all  manner  of  indirect  gains,  by  means  which 
made  them  a  byeword  among  their  own  countrymen,  and 
a  terror  to  the  people  at  whose  expense  their  ill-gotten 
riches  were  mostly  earned.  Intent  on  winning  large  for- 
tunes in  a  few  months,  they  overreached,  plundered,  op- 
pressed their   native   customers,    aUies,  and   subjects   at 

*  One  Sepoy  regiment  marched  104  miles  in  fifty-four  hours,  reach- 
ing Surdjpur  in  time  to  prevent  an  outbreak  among  the  Europeans. 


I 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    BENGAL.  218 

every  turn.  "  The  people  under  their  dominion,"  said  a 
native  chronicler  of  those  times,  "  groan  everywhere,  and 
are  reduced  to  poverty  and  distress."  Nearly  the  whole 
inland  trade  of  the  country  passed  through  the  all-grasp- 
ing hands  of  the  Calcutta  Council  and  their  like-minded 
agents.  No  one,  high  or  low,  was  safe  fiom  their  un- 
scrupulous greed.  Their  demands  and  exactions  had 
hastened  the  death  of  Mir  JafSr.  Twenty  lakhs  of  rupees 
from  the  exhausted  treasury  at  Murshidabad  was  the  sum 
distributed  among  nine  of  the  leading  men  at  Calcutta,  as 
the  price  of  their  agreeing  to  set  up  his  infant  son  in  his 
stead.  While  Bengal  was  going  to  ruin,  and  the  Com- 
pany at  home  grumbled  over  their  small  dividends,  the 
Calcutta  factors  kept  filling  their  own  pui-ses  in  utter  dis- 
regard of  justice,  decency,  and  common  patriotism.  Clive 
mourned  over  the  eclipse  of  his  country's  fame,  and  de- 
clared with  honest  scorn  that  "  there  were  not  five  men  of 
principle  left  at  the  presidency."* 

He  had  gone  out  again,  however,  determined,  as  he 
said  himself,  to  "  destroy  these  great  and  growing  evils, 
or  perish  in  the  attempt."  In  less  than  two  years,  the 
task  entrusted  to  him  was  fairly  accomphshed.  Armed 
with  the  chief  civil  and  military  control,  he  cared  nothing 
for  the  intrigues,  clamours,  and  open  resistance  of  his 
colleagues  and  subordinates.  The  taking  of  presents  from 
the  natives  was  forbidden  under  stem  penalties,  and  the 
private  ti-ade  of  the  Company's  servants  put  down.  Some 
of  his  opponents  were  turned  out  of  oflBce,  and  their 
places  filled  with  gentlemen  from  Madras.  DebaiTed  by 
his  instructions  from  raising  the  pay  of  the  civil  servants 
to  a  point  commensurate  with  their  official  standing,  Clive 
sought  to  check  the  tendency  to  make  money  through 
indirect  and  underhand  means,  by  reserving  the  monopoly 

*  For  a  striking  yet  truthful  picture  of  Bengal  at  this  period  the 
reader  may  turn  with  profit  to  Macaulay's  masterly  essay  on  "Lord 
Clive." 


214  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

of  salt,  betel-nut,  and  tobacco,  for  the  special  use  of  the 
chief  civil  and  mihtary  officers.  After  a  certain  sum  had 
been  set  apart  for  the  Company  at  home,  the  balance  was 
parcelled  out  in  so  many  shares  among  the  members  of 
council,  colonels,  senior  merchants,  factors,  and  other 
gentlemen,  to  each  according  to  his  rank.  It  is  strange 
to  think  that  a  measure  which  at  least  succeeded  in 
uprooting  the  worst  abuses  of  a  faulty  system,  was  after- 
wards quoted  against  its  author  as  the  very  wickedest  of 
his  alleged  misdeeds. 

In  the  beginning  of  1767  Clive  quitted  for  the  last  time 
the  scene  of  achievements  which,  however  blurred  by  a 
few  acts  of  doubtful  justice,  entitle  him  to  a  foremost 
place  in  the  hearts  and  memories  of  his  countrymen.  No 
other  man  of  his  age  and  mark,  beset  with  like  tempta- 
tions, overcame  them,  on  the  whole,  with  loftier  coui'age 
and  cleaner  hands.  One  of  his  last  acts  in  India  was  to 
make  over  to  the  Company,  in  trust  for  invalided  officers 
and  soldiers,  a  sum  of  about  £00,000,  which  Mir  Jaffir 
had  left  him  in  his  will.'''  In  broken  health  he  returned 
to  England  poorer  than  he  had  left  it,  although  untold 
wealth  from  many  quarters  had  lain  within  his  reach. 

The  rest  of  his  Ufe-story  is  soon  told.  It  was  not  long 
before  his  foes  at  the  India  House  renewed  their  attacks 
on  a  hero,  whose  worst  delinquencies  were  less  intolerable 
than  the  good  deeds  of  his  latter  years.  To  the  blows  he 
had  struck  at  official  knavery  in  Bengal,  Lord  Clive  was 
mainly  indebted  for  the  storm  of  obloquy  and  personal 
slander,  disguised  as  zeal  for  the  public  good,  which 
embittered,  if  it  did  not  even  hasten,  the  close  of  his 
eventful  life.  Every  bad  act  of  his  countrymen  in  India, 
whether  done  in  his  absence  or  against  his  express  com- 
mands, was  laid  upon  his  shoulders  ;  and  the  founder  of 
our  Indian  Empire  was  held  up  to  popular  hatred  as  a 

•  Lord  Clive's  Fund  was  given  up  to  his  heirs  a  few  years  ago,  after 
having  done  good  service  for  nearly  a  hundred  years. 


THE    ENGLISH   IN   BENGAIi,  215 

monster  of  every  -vice  and  crime.  The  dreadful  famine  of 
1770  in  Bengal  gave  his  enemies  a  fresh  plea  for  venting 
their  rancorous  spite  on  a  nobleman  whose  friends  in 
Pai-Hament  were  growing  daUy  fewer.  But  CUve  met 
their  attacks  with  all  his  old  courage  and  proud  self- 
respect.  From  his  place  in  the  House  of  Commons  he 
defended  himself  in  a  speech  which  for  the  moment 
silenced  his  accusers,  and  won  from  old  Lord  Chatham, 
who  happened  to  hear  it,  the  tribute  of  his  highest  praise. 
Before  a  committee  of  inquii-y  into  Indian  affairs  he 
underwent  an  rmsparing  scrutiny  into  every  act  of  his 
pubhc  life,  claiming  credit  for  the  very  things  which  his 
questioners  sought  to  prove  against  him.  He  had  de- 
ceived Amin  Chand,  but  in  the  same  circumstances  he 
would  certainly  do  once  more  the  same  thing.  He  had 
taken  money  from  Mir  Jaifir ;  but  what  then  ?  Why 
should  he  feel  ashamed  of  an  act  which  was  neither  mean 
nor  wicked  ?  All  things  considered,  he  could  only  wonder 
that  he  had  not  taken  much  more. 

At  last,  in  1772,  a  vote  of  censm-e  was  formally  brought 
before  the  House  of  Commons.  Once  more  Chve  spoke 
with  telling  earnestness  in  his  own  defence ;  and  the 
Commons,  refusing  to  brand  with  infamy  a  name  so 
worthy  to  be  held  in  proud  remembrance,  resolved  that 
Clive  had  rendered  great  and  meritorious  services  to  his 
country.  But  their  verdict  came  too  late  to  undo  the 
effects  of  iUness  aggravated  by  years  of  mental  anxiety. 
In  November,  1774,  the  conqueror  of  Plassy,  who  had 
already  won  for  his  countrymen  a  kingdom  larger  and 
much  more  populous  than  their  own,  died  by  his  own 
hand  at  the  age  of  forty-nine. 


216 


CHAPTER  n. 

EVENTS    IN    SOUTHERN    AND    UPPER    INDIA 1761-1775. 

The  progress  of  events  in  Southern  India  after  the  fall  of 
Pondicherry  now  claims  our  attention.  With  the  expulsion 
of  the  French  from  India  their  English  rivals  found  them- 
selves charged  with  the  mihtary  defence  of  the  Camatic 
on  behalf  of  its  nominal  ruler,  Mohammad  Ah.  But  they 
had  no  money  to  spare  for  that  purpose,  and  their  spend- 
thrift ally  had  even  less.  To  replenish  his  own  and  the 
Madras  exchequer  by  making  war  upon  the  Eajah  of  Tan- 
jor  was  Mohammad  All's  ready  thought.  But  a  peaceful 
settlement  made  with  the  Rajah  under  Enghsh  prompting 
enabled  the  Madras  Council  to  pay  their  way  for  that 
present,  and  in  time  the  surplus  revenues  of  the  Camatic 
passed  entirely  into  their  hands. 

By  the  treaty  of  peace  concluded  between  France  and 
England  in  1763,  the  factories  taken  from  the  French  in 
India  during  the  late  war  were  given  back  to  them,  and 
both  nations  agreed  to  acknowledge  Mohammad  Ali  as 
Nawab  of  the  Camatic,  and  Salabat  Jang  as  Subadar  of 
the  Dakhan.  The  latter,  however,  had  been  dethroned 
a  year  before  by  his  brother  Niziim  Ali,  who  straightway 
put  him  to  death  as  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  treaty.  Not 
long  afterwards  the  usurping  fratricide  invaded  the  Car- 
natic,  ravaging  the  country  as  he  passed  along,  until  the 
bold  front  displayed  by  a  small  Enghsh  column  at  Tirupatti 
compelled  him  to  retrace  his  steps. 

In  pursuance  of  the  treaty  made  by  Clive  with  Shah 
Alam,  the   Madras  government   in   1766   sent   troops  to 


EVENTS    IN    SOUTHERN    AND    UPPER    INDIA.  217 

occupy  the  Northern  Sarkars.  But  Nizam  Ali,  who  had 
meanwhile  turned  his  arms  agaiust  Janoji  Bhusla,  the 
Mai'atha  sovereign  of  Beriir,  ill  brooked  the  loss  of  further 
territory ;  and  the  English  at  Madras  had  no  Clive  at 
their  head.  Yielding  to  the  threats  of  the  prince  they 
had  so  lately  defied,  they  at  length  agreed  to  hold  the 
ceded  province  as  tributaries  of  Nizam  Ali,  and  to  make 
common  cause  with  him  against  common  foes. 

One  of  these  foes  was  Haidar  Ali  Khan,  the  Moham- 
madan  soldier  of  fortune,  whose  stout  arm  and  strong  will, 
backed  by  a  matchless  talent  for  intrigue,  had  made  him 
the  foremost  officer,  ere  long  the  self-chosen  ruler  of  the 
old  Hindu  state  of  Maisor.*  For  some  ten  years  past  he 
had  fought  with  varying  success  against  the  Marathas,  the 
Nizam,  and  the  Nawab  of  the  Camatic.  But  for  the 
perils  which  then  came  near  to  ovenvhehn  him  in  Maisor, 
he  would  have  aided  Lally  in  his  last  struggles  against  the 
victorious  English.  A  few  years  later  he  had  overcome 
all  antagonists  at  home,  had  thrown  into  prison  his  old 
patron  and  ablest  rival  Nanjiraj,  and  dethroned  the  last 
and  weakest  of  the  princes  who  for  several  centuries  had 
ruled  Maisor.  Since  then  he  had  carried  his  arms  as 
far  as  Calicut  and  Bednor,  until  his  growing  power  pro- 
voked the  Peshwa  Sladhu  Rao  to  make  war  upon  him  in 
concert  with  Nizam  Ah. 

Early  in  1767  the  Marathas  invaded  Maisor,  and  carried 
off  rich  phmder  before  the  Niziim  and  his  English  allies 
were  ready  to  fulfil  their  share  of  the  compact.  A  few 
weeks  later  Colonel  Smith,  the  Enghsh  commander,  saw 
too  good  reason  to  mistrust  the  good  faith  of  his  professed 
ally.  At  last  the  Nizam,  who  had  succeeded  in  seUing 
himself  to  his  late  foe,  threw  ofi'  the  mask  entirely,  and 
marched  with  Haidar  Ali  against  Smith,  who  had  with- 

*  Haidar  Naik,  as  he  was  first  called,  was  bom  in  1702,  the  son  of  a 
Moghal  officer  in  the  Panjab,  where  Haidar  himself  served  as  a  naik> 
or  captain,  before  he  took  service  with  the  Rajah  of  JIaisdr. 


218  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

drawn  his  troops  from  Nizam  All's  camp.  On  the 
8rd  September  the  alhed  armies,  reckoned  at  70,000  men, 
with  more  than  100  guns,  attacked  about  7,000  Enghsh 
and  Sepoys  with  sixteen  guns  at  Changama  in  South 
Arkot,  but  were  signally  defeated  with  heavy  loss.  Retiring 
to  Trinomalli  for  supplies  and  reinforcements,  the  victors, 
now  10,000  strong  with  thirty  guns,  were  again  attacked 
on  the  26th  by  numbers  nearly  as  great  as  before  ;  and 
again  their  stubborn  courage  and  steady  discipline  drove 
their  assailants  in  disorder  from  the  field.  On  that  day 
and  the  next  more  than  4,000  of  the  enemy  were  killed  or 
wounded,  and  half  their  guns  taken  by  the  victors,  whose 
own  loss  was  only  150  men.  Ill  supported  by  his  ally, 
the  resolute  Haidar  stiU  kept  the  field  ;  but  his  efforts  to 
take  the  fort  of  Ambiir,  on  the  road  from  Bangalor  to 
Madras,  were  gloriously  repulsed  by  the  brave  Captain 
Culvert,  and  Smith's  timely  appearance  on  the  7th  Decem- 
ber forced  Haidar  Ali  to  raise  the  siege  and  withdraw  the 
bulk  of  his  army  into  Maisor. 

Early  in  the  next  year  the  Nizam's  just  fears  of  EngUsh 
vengeance  were  allayed  by  a  treaty  which  bound  him  to 
help  the  Madras  government  in  subduing  his  late  ally,  on 
condition  of  receiving  tribute  for  the  country  which  his 
new  friends  might  conquer  for  themselves.  Nizam  Ali  on 
his  side  agreed  to  acknowledge  Mohammad  AH  as  ruler  of 
the  Camatic  ;  and  the  right  of  the  Company  to  hold  the 
Northern  Saa-kiirs  under  the  Imperial  grant  of  1765  was 
virtually  admitted.  Haidar  himself  was  to  be  treated  as 
a  rebel  and  an  usurper,  who  ought  to  be  suppressed  at  any 
cost.  By  this  bold  if  hazardous  move  against  the  ruler  of 
Maisor,  the  Madras  Council  committed  themselves  and 
their  unwilling  masters  at  home  to  a  deadly  struggle  T\-ith 
the  boldest,  fiercest,  ablest,  and  most  determined  foe 
whom  our  arms  have  ever  encountered  in  Southern  India. 

Meanwhile  the  Bombay  government  had  done  their  best 
to  cripple  Haidar's  naval  power  in  the  west,  by  sending 


EVENTS    IN    SOUTHERN    AND    UPPER    TSDIA.  219 

a  fleet  to  take  Mangalor  and  other  places  on  the  Malabar 
coast.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  the  dreaded 
Mussulman  won  back  his  lost  towns,  including  Man- 
galor, whose  cowardly  commander  abandoned  a  large 
number  of  wounded  English  and  Sepoys  to  the  tender 
mercies  of  a  ruthless  and  embittered  foe.  On  the  other 
side  of  his  dominions,  however,  that  foe  kept  losing  so 
much  ground  before  Colonel  Smith's  steady  advance,  that 
he  was  glad  ere  long  to  offer  terms  which  the  Madi'as 
government  would  have  done  well  to  accept.  But  the 
demands  of  the  latter  rose  with  their  late  successes,  until 
Haidar,  scorning  to  humble  himself  any  farther,  and  alive 
to  every  chance  of  bettering  his  own  position,  resolved  to 
fight  on  and  teach  his  enemies  a  lesson  of  wise  forbearance 
in  the  hour  of  their  seeming  prosperity. 

Before  the  year's  end  he  had  forced  Smith  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Bangalor,  had  defeated  the  EngUsh  under  Colonel 
Wood,  had  recovered  the  distiicts  he  would  have  ceded 
to  the  Company,  and  begun  to  ravage  the  borders  of  the 
Camatic  with  fii-e  and  sword.  Ere  long,  in  spite  of 
Smith's  watchfulness,  Haidar's  active  horsemen  outflanked 
their  opponents,  and  swept  forward  in  full  speed  for 
Madras.  Smith  followed  them,  eager  for  revenge  and 
victory;  but  it  was  too  late.  Frightened  at  Haidar's 
sudden  appearance  within  a  few  miles  of  their  own  city, 
the  Madras  Council  readily  agreed  to  treat  with  the  foe 
whose  ofiers  they  had  so  lately  spurned.  Smith  was 
ordered  to  halt  his  troops,  whOe  Haidar  leisurely  pro- 
ceeded to  dictate  the  terms  of  a  treaty  which  left  him 
master  of  all  his  former  possessions,  and  bound  both  parties 
to  help  each  other  against  aU  assailants.  For  this  lame 
conclusion  to  their  former  menaces,  the  rulers  of  Madras 
excused  themselves  by  pleading  want  of  money  to  carry  on 
the  war. 

About  this  time  the  Peshwa  of  the  Marathas  had  sent 
forth   a   mighty  army  to   levy   chauth  on  the  princes  of 


220  mSTOEY    OF   INDIA. 

Upper  India,  in  the  name  of  a  power  still  bent  on  retriev- 
ing the  losses  of  Panipat.  When  the  Jiits  and  Eiijputs 
had  been  duly  plundered,  the  invaders  swept  over  Rohil- 
khand,  but  were  induced  by  timely  overtures  from  Shuja- 
ud-daula  to  spare  Audh.  Masters  of  Dehli,  they  invited 
Shah  Alam  thither  from  his  temporaiT  capital  at  Allahabad. 
In  spite  of  the  warnings  of  his  Enghsh  fi-iends,  that  weak 
but  ambitious  scion  of  the  house  of  Babar  suffered  himself 
to  be  escorted  into  DehU  by  Maratha  sabres,  and  installed 
by  his  Hindu  patrons  in  the  throne  of  Akbar  and 
Aurangzib. 

But  the  foohsh  Moghal  soon  began  to  chafe  under  the 
protection  of  his  new  masters,  whose  little  finger  was 
heavier  than  the  loins  of  the  Nawab-Yizier.  lu  the  latter 
part  of  1772,  when  the  Marathas  were  engaged  to  the 
eastward  in  exacting  fresh  tribute  irom  Eohilkhand,  the 
I\Ioghal  Minister,  Najaf  Khan,  was  defeated  by  Tnkaji 
Holkar  in  his  attempt  to  ward  off  an  attack  of  the  Jiits 
upon  one  of  the  Emperor's  feudatories.  In  vain  did  Najaf 
Ivhan  rally  his  troops  for  yet  another  stand  before  Dehh. 
The  Moghal  capital  opened  its  gates  to  the  victorious 
Marathas,  and  the  fickle  Emperor  made  his  peace  by  dis- 
owning his  brave  defender,  and  yielding  up  the  districts 
which  Clive  a  few  years  before  had  transferred  into  his 
charge. 

But  the  Enghsh  were  in  no  mood  to  suffer  Maratha 
aggi-andisement  at  their  own  expense.  The  presence  of  an 
Enghsh  force  deterred  the  Marathas  from  entering  the 
ceded  provinces,  which  were  afterwards  handed  over  to 
the  Nawab  of  Audh,  from  whose  chai'ge  they  had  been 
wrested  by  the  Enghsh  after  the  battle  of  Basar.  Mean- 
while the  death  of  the  Peshwa,  Madhu  Kao,  in  November, 
1772,  gave  the  Maratha  general  a  good  excuse  for  with- 
drawing his  army,  laden  with  the  plunder  of  many  pro- 
vinces, across  the  Narbadha  before  the  middle  of  1773. 
While  one  great  army  had  been  thus  engaged  in  the 


EVENTS    IN    SOUTHERN    AND    UPPER    INDIA.  221 

north,  another,  led  hy  Madhu  Kao  himself,  had  struck 
some  heavy  blows  at  the  power  of  Haidar  AJi,  in  return 
for  his  open  defiance  of  claims  pressed  under  former 
treaties.  Fort  after  fort  in  his  eastern  provinces  feO  into 
the  invaders'  hands.  A  large  part  of  Maisor  was  ravaged 
by  clouds  of  Mai-atha  horsemen.  Trimbak  Miima,  who 
took  over  the  command  from  the  ailing  Peshwa,  caught 
Haidar  at  a  disadvantage  on  his  retreat  towards  Seringa- 
patam,  and  nothing  but  the  Maratha  gi-eed  for  plunder 
saved  Haidar's  routed  troops  from  utter  annihilation.  In 
vain  did  the  stout-hearted  ruler  of  Maisor  appeal  to  Madi'as 
for  the  succour  which  under  recent  treaties  he  had  per- 
haps some  right  to  claim,  although  he  might  seem  to  have 
forfeited  that  right  by  his  wanton  invasion  of  Maratha 
ground.  The  IMadras  Council  would  have  given  him  the 
needful  aid;  but  Sir  John  Lindsay  had  been  sent  out 
from  England  as  King's  envoy  to  the  Com-t  of  Mohammad 
Ali,  and  the  ruler  of  the  Cai-natic  would  hear  of  no  friendly 
movement  in  behalf  of  his  hard-pressed  neighbour.  Sir 
John  himself  shared  the  Nawab's  feehng ;  and  the  Council, 
hampered  by  their  conflicting  duties,  abandoned  Haidar  to 
his  fate.  Before  the  end  of  1771  the  turbulent  sovereign 
of  Maisor  was  glad  to  obtain  peace  on  conditions  which 
stripped  him  of  nearly  half  his  kingdom,  and  saddled 
him  with  the  payment  of  a  heavy  tribute  to  the  Com-t  of 
Pima.  He  never  forgave  the  EngUsh  for  what  he  con- 
sidered a  cowai'dly  breach  of  faith,  and  his  son  Tippu  took 
up  the  legacy  of  revenge. 

By  this  time  a  fit  successor  to  Clive  was  about  to  assume 
the  office  which  Clive's  retirement  had  left  for  some  years 
past  in  much  weaker  hands.  During  those  years  many 
things  had  gone  wi-ong  with  the  East  India  Company  and 
its  servants  in  Bengal.  In  Clive's  absence  the  old  abuses 
began  to  crop  up  again  more  and  more  thickly ;  the  re- 
venues, handsome  in  themselves,  were  wasted  in  the  col- 
lection by  all  kinds  of  jobbery  and  mismanagement ;  the 


222  HISTOKY    OF    IXDIA. 

people  of  Bengal  suffered  from  heai-y  and  unfair  exactions 
on  the  part  alike  of  English  supervisors  and  native  depu- 
ties. Immense  grants  of  land  enriched  a  few  native  jobbers 
at  the  expense  of  their  English  rulers.  On  the  top  of  all 
this  broke  out  the  dreadful  famine  of  1770,  when  the  hus- 
bandmen sold  their  cattle,  their  farming- tools,  their  very 
sons  and  daughters  for  food,  when  the  hving  were  fain  to 
eat  the  dead,  when  pestilence  added  its  ravages  to  those 
of  hunger,  and  tender  women,  laying  aside  all  their  wonted 
privacy,  rushed  forth  unveiled  into  the  streets  to  beg  a 
handful  of  rice  for  their  starving  children.  More  than  a 
third  of  the  people  in  Bengal  are  reckoned  to  have  died  of 
famine  or  disease,  and  for  years  to  come  large  tracts  of 
once  fertile  country  lay  waste  or  overgrown  with  rank 
jungle.*  From  these  and  such  like  causes  it  happened 
that  the  Company  was  already  deep  in  debt,  at  the  very 
moment  when  its  directors  were  declaring  dividends  of  sis 
per  cent,  on  the  half-year. 

Conscious  of  the  dangers  that  beset  them  in  India,  and 
frightened  at  the  outcry  waxing  loud  against  them  at 
home,  the  Court  of  Directors  at  length  announced  their 
resolve  "  to  stand  forth  as  Dewan,  and  to  take  on  them- 
selves the  entire  care  and  management  of  the  revenues 
thi-ough  the  agency  of  their  own  servants."  Hitherto  the 
government  of  Bengal  in  all  its  branches  had  been  carried 
on  mainly  through  native  officers,  most  of  whom  had 
wofully  abused  their  powers.  To  the  strong  hands  of 
Warren  Hastings  was  now  entrusted  the  execution  of  the 
desired  reforms.  That  great,  if  sometimes  erring  states- 
man, had  first  gone  out  to  India  at  the  age  of  eighteen. 
Seven  yeai's  later,  in  1757,  his  talents  had  won  the  notice 
of  the  hero  of  Plassy,  who  placed  him  in  the  difficult  post 
of  Resident  at  the  Court  of  Murshidabad.  In  1760  he 
rose  to  be  a  member  of  the  Calcutta  Council,  where  his 

•  Hunter's  "Annals  of  Rural  Bengal";  Macanlay's  "Essay  on  Lord 
Clive  " ;  Girdlestone's  "  Report  on  Past  Famines,"  ic. 


EVESTS    IK    SOUTHERN    AXD    UPPER    INDIA.  223 

great  abilities  and  his  upright  dealings  stood  out  in  sharp 
relief  against  the  shortcomings  of  profligate  or  blundering 
colleagues.  Returning  to  England  in  1764,  -n-ith  a  good 
name  and  a  purse  but  poorly  stocked,  he  went  out  again 
five  years  later  as  second  Member  of  Council  at  Madras. 
"While  he  was  doing  his  best  there  to  retrieve  the  financial 
disorders  consequent  on  the  war  with  Haidar  and  the 
spendthrift  rule  of  Mohammad  Ali,  he  found  himself  ap- 
pointed President  of  the  Calcutta  Council ;  and  in  April, 
1772,  Wan-en  Hastings  took  charge  of  the  post  with  which 
his  name  was  to  become  inseparably  linked  for  praise  or 
blame  in  the  minds  of  his  countrymen  at  large. 

The  new  Governor  of  Fort  William  lost  no  time  in  car- 
rying out  the  orders  he  had  received  from  home.  It  was 
to  him  a  painful  but  necessary  duty  to  begin  by  dealing 
harshly  with  Mohammad  Reza  Khan,  the  Mussulman 
Governor  of  Bengal,  and  with  his  Hindu  helpmate,  Rajah 
Shitab  Rai,  who  had  fought  like  a  Rajput  hero  under 
Captain  Knox  twelve  years  before,  in  the  memorable  rout 
of  Shah  Alam,  under  the  walls  of  Patna.  Both  these 
nobles  were  removed  from  office,  and  afterwards  brought 
to  trial  for  alleged  misdeeds  which  their  accusers  wholly 
failed  to  prove.  Both,  in  due  time,  were  formally  ac- 
quitted, the  Hindu  with  especial  honour  and  every  token 
of  regret  for  the  wrong  unwittingly  done  him.  But 
nothing  could  heal  the  wound  inflicted  on  his  self-respect, 
and  the  most  loyal  friend  to  the  Enghsh  in  India  died  ere 
long  of  a  broken  heart. 

His  chief  foe,  however,  the  wily  Xrind  Kumar,  gained 
nothing  by  his  unsparing  efforts  to  supplant  his  worthier 
rivals.  The  powers  which  Hastings  took  out  of  their 
hands  were  not  to  be  entrusted  again  to  native  overseers. 
Thenceforth  the  real  government  of  Bengal  and  Bahar  was 
handed  over  to  the  acknowledged  servants  of  the  Company. 
The  seat  of  rule  was  finally  transferred,  with  the  Treasury 
and  the  Courts  of  Justice,  from  Murshidabad  to  Calcutta. 


224 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


The  little  Nawiib  himself  was  to  retain  nothing  of  liis 
father's  crippled  sovereignty,  save  the  name  and  social 
state  of  Nawab.  A  son  of  Nand  Kumar  was  appointed 
treasurer  of  his  household.     The  courts  of  civil  and  crimi- 


ZAMINDAR,    DAGAR    TRIBE. 


nal  justice  in  each  district  were  placed  under  the  charge  of 
English  officers  ;  and  com-ts  of  appeal  were  estabhshed  in 
Calcutta,  under  regulations  drawn  up  for  their  guidance  by 
the  clear-headed  governor  himself. 

Hand-in-hand  with  these  reforms  proceeded  the  task  of 


EVENTS    IN    SOUTHERN    AND    UPPER    INDIA.  225 

settling  the  revenues  of  the  country.  After  a  close  but 
often  baffling  search  into  the  rights  of  existing  Za- 
mindars  or  land-holders,  the  land  of  Bengal  was  farmed 
out  to  the  highest  bidders,  by  way  of  experiment,  for  five 
j'ears.*  In  keeping  with  the  immemorial  usage  of  the 
country,  with  the  practice  ahke  of  Hindu  and  Moham- 
madan  rulers,  Hastings  looked  to  the  land  revenue  as  the 
mainstay  of  his  new  fiscal  system.  Several  taxes  which 
bore  hard  on  the  people,  or  yielded  little  to  the  Treasury, 
were  abohshed.  In  each  district  an  English  collector, 
aided  by  a  staff  of  native  officers,  was  appointed  to  collect 
the  revenue,  to  settle  all  disputes  between  land-holders  and 
tenants,  to  protect  the  Rayats  or  husbandmen  from  the 
extortions  of  Zamindars  and  native  underlings,  and  to  use 
his  best  eflbrts  in  furthering  the  trade  and  industry  of  his 
own  district.  To  each  group  of  districts  was  assigned  its 
own  commissioner,  who  travelled  about  the  country  as 
overseer  or  controller,  and  sent  in  his  reports  to  a  central 
board  of  revenue  sitting  in  Calcutta. 

While  the  new  governor  was  thus  engaged  in  Bengal, 
the  process  of  reform  was  being  applied  by  Parhament  to 
his  masters'  affairs  at  home.  The  Select  Committee  of 
1772  issued  a  report  which  became  the  groundwork  of 
the  Eegulating  Act,  passed  in  the  following  year  by  the 
ministry  of  Lord  North.  An  important  change  ia  the 
terms  of  admission  into  the  Company  and  of  election  to 
the  Court  of  Directors,  reduced  the  number  of  stockholders 
greatly  for  the  better,!  and  secured  to  each  director  four 
years  of  office  at  a  time.  The  Governor  of  Fort  WiUiam 
became  Governor-General  of  India,  with  a  salary  of 
£25,000  a-year  ;  and  four  Members  of  Council,  whose 
joint  salaries  amounted  to  £40,000  a-year,  were  to  aid  or 
check  his  movements.     A  Chief  Justice  and  three  puisne 

*  Kaye's  "Administration  of   the  East  India  Company,"  part  ii. 
chap.  2. 
t  The  qualification  for  a,  Proprietor  was  raised  from  £500  to  £1,000. 


226  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

judges,  appointed  by  the  Crown,  were  to  form  a  Supreme 
Court  of  Judicature,  wielding  large  but  ill-defined  powers 
over  all  persons  except  the  Governor-General  and  his 
Council.  The  clamours  of  the  Company  against  these 
inroads  on  their  chartered  rights  were  partly  allayed  by  a 
loan  of  a  miUion  sterUng  from  the  Royal  Exchequer ;  but 
the  thin  end  of  the  wedge  had  been  fairly  driven  into  the 
fabric  of  their  rule. 

Meanwhile  Hastings,  urged  by  an  empty  treasury  and 
the  prayers  of  the  Directors  for  more  money,  had  been 
doing  his  best  to  set  things  financially  straight  in  Bengal. 
The  tribute  to  Shah  Alam,  a  quarter  of  a  nuUion  sterling, 
was  no  longer  paid.  For  twice  that  sum  he  agreed  to 
make  over  to  the  Nawab-Yizier  of  Audh  the  districts  of 
Korah  and  Allahabad.  For  another  large  sum  he  agreed 
to  lend  the  ambitious  Shuja-ud-daula  a  body  of  Enghsh 
and  native  troops  to  aid  in  the  conquest  of  Rohilkhand. 
His  policy  in  this  matter  has  often  been  denounced,  by 
none  more  eloquently  than  Macaulay  himself.  But  Hast- 
ings, handling  the  question  as  a  statesman  and  a  financier, 
paid  small  regard  to  the  sentimental  claims  afterwards 
pleaded  in  behalf  of  a  race  of  Pathan  nobles  too  weak  to 
bar  out  the  Mai-athas,  and  too  turbulent  to  keep  the  peace 
among  themselves.  He  knew  that  their  leader,  Hafiz 
Rahmat  Khan,  owed  Shuja-ud-daula,  for  help  given  against 
the  Mai-iithas,  a  sum  which  he  could  not  or  would  not  pay. 
He  knew  that  the  Moghal  emperor  had  bestowed  on  our 
good  friend,  the  Xawab- Vizier,  the  government  of  a  pro- 
vince which  a  predecessor  of  Hafiz  Rahmat  had  wrested 
from  a  Moghal  emperor  thirty  years  before.  He  knew 
that  Lis  own  masters  were  sadly  in  want  of  money,  that 
the  troops  lent  out  to  a  useful  neighbour  would  cost  his 
own  treasury  nothing  in  the  meantime,  and  that  a  sure 
way  of  keeping  the  peace  in  Bengal  was  to  be  found  in  the 
maintenance  of  a  strong  government  on  its  northern  fron- 
tier.    As  for  the  bulk  of  the  people  in  Rohilkhand,  it  was 


EVENTS    IN    SOUTHERN    AND    UPPEE    INDIA.  227 

not  likely  that  they  would  lose  on  the  whole  by  a  change 
of  masters  which  bade  fair  to  rescue  them  alike  from  in- 
ternal troubles  and  foreign  raids. 

In  accordance  with  these  views  an  Enghsh  force  under 
Colonel  Champion  marched  into  the  doomed  province. 
On  the  23rd  AprO,  1774,  his  little  army  had  to  bear  the 
brimt  of  a  hard  fight  against  40,000  KohUlas,  led  by  Hafiz 
Rahmat  himself.  In  spite  of  these  odds,  enhanced  by  the 
cowardice  of  their  allies,  the  EngKsh  won  the  day,  leaving 
2,000  RohiUas  with  their  brave  leader  dead  or  dying  on 
the  field.  Bitterly  did  Colonel  Champion  inveigh  against 
those  "  banditti,"  the  men  of  Audh,  who  looked  on  at  the 
fight  from  a  safe  distance  and  then  hastened  to  plunder 
the  enemy's  camp.  This  victory  sealed  the  doom  of  the 
Rohilla  Pathans.  FaizuUa  Khan  indeed  retained  his 
father's  fief  of  Rampnr  as  the  price  of  his  timely  submis- 
sion to  the  Nawab-Yizier ;  *  but  some  20,000  of  his 
countrymen  were  driven  out  of  the  conquered  province. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that  the  mass  of  the  people  in 
Rohilkhand,  mostly  of  Hindu  descent,  suffered  neither  in 
purse  nor  person  from  the  downfiiU  of  their  late  masters  ; 
and  the  stories  of  their  cruel  fate,  as  afterwards  raked  up 
in  England  by  private  and  pohtical  foes  of  the  great 
Gorernor-General,  were  httle  better  than  idle  tales. f 

Had  Hastings  been  left  free  to  pm-sue  his  own  plans 
for  the  better  government  of  Bengal  and  the  safeguai-ding 
of  its  frontiers,  some  dark  passages  in  the  history  of  this 
period  might  have  remained  unwritten.  But  with  the 
landing  of  the  new  councillors  in  October,  1774,  his 
powers  of  independent  action  were  to  be  sadly  crippled  by 
the  malice  or  the  misconceptions  of  men  who  combined 
to  outvote  him  at  every  turn.     Of  the  four  members  of  his 

*  His  descendants  still  liold  their  piace  as  Kawaba  of  Rampnr. 
(Keene's  ''  Moghal  Empire.") 

f  ■■  The  Hindu  inhabitants,  aboat  TOO.OM,  were  in  no  way  affected," 
n-rites  Captain  Hamilton  in  his  "  History  of  the  Eohilla  Afghans," 
founded  on  the  works  of  Rohilla  historiana, 

q2 


'ZJia  HISTOBY    OF   INDIA. 

remodelled  Council  one  only,  Mr.  Barwell,  took  the  part 
of  Hastings  against  a  majority  led  by  Philip  Francis,  one 
of  the  ablest,  fiercest,  wrongest-headed,  most  rancorous 
statesmen  of  his  day.  True  to  the  character  pourtrayed 
by  himself  in  his  own  "  Letters  of  Junius  " — those  master- 
pieces of  spiteful  satire  clothed  in  powerful  English — 
Francis  set  himself  at  once  to  the  congenial  task  of  hamper- 
ing the  ruler  whom  he  had  already  learned  to  hate. 
Under  the  guise  of  patriotism,  of  upright  scorn  for  wrong- 
doing, he  gave  full  vent  to  the  workings  of  a  narrow  mind 
and  a  thoroughly  malignant  heart ;  and  in  such  a  cUmate 
as  that  of  Calcutta  the  natural  sourness  of  his  temper  was 
pretty  sure  to  derive  fresh  poison  from  the  fierce  summer 
heats. 

His  evil  influence  soon  began  to  bear  fmit.  The  Go- 
vernor-General's agent  at  the  Court  of  Shuja-ud-daula  was 
replaced  by  another  of  his  own  choosing.  In  spite  of 
Hastings'  remonstrances,  the  English  brigade  was  recalled 
from  Kohilkhand.  On  the  death  of  the  Nawab-Vizier  his 
successor,  Asaf-ud-daula,  was  forced  to  make  over  the 
district  of  Banaras  to  his  EngUsh  aUies,  and  to  pay  a 
larger  subsidy  for  the  use  of  his  borrowed  Sepoys.  Francis 
and  his  friends  in  the  Council  thwarted  and  overrode 
Hastings  at  every  tm-n.  They  interfered  with  a  high  hand 
in  the  affairs  of  Bombay  and  Madras  ;  their  meddling 
fingers  left  unseemly  marks  on  the  government  of  Bengal 
itself.  They  Ustened  with  greedy  ears  to  every  charge 
which  the  enemies  of  Hastings  were  but  too  ready  to 
bring  against  a  governor  fallen  into  manifest  disgrace.  In 
India  it  is  always  easy  to  complete  the  ruin  of  dishonoured 
greatness  by  means  of  false  witnesses  and  forged  papers  ; 
and  the  friends  of  Francis  in  the  Calcutta  Council  became 
ready  dupes  of  all  who  owed  Hastings  a  grudge  or  deemed 
it  politic  to  win  the  favour  of  his  opponents. 

Foremost  among  the  crows  who  hastened  to  peck  at 
that  wounded  vulture  was  the  wily  Hindu  Nand  Kumar. 


EVENTS    IN    SOUTHERN    AND    UPPER    INDIA.  229 

He  had  never  forgiven  Hastings  for  cheating  him  of  his 
hoped-for  succession  to  the  post  of  Mohammad  Reza 
Khan,  and  now  it  seemed  as  if  the  hour  for  his  revenge 
had  struck  at  last.  This  man,  a  master  of  intrigue  and 
falsehood,  openly  charged  the  Governor- General  with 
having  taken  bribes  from  the  widow  of  Mir  Jiiffir,  from 
Mohammad  Reza  Khan,  and  several  others.  In  the 
CouncU  he  found  a  ready  hearing.  Scorning  to  defend 
himself  against  such  a  man  before  such  a  court,  Hastings 
left  the  council-room,  followed  by  his  friend  BarweU. 
But  Francis  and  the  other  two  voted  themselves  a  council, 
went  into  the  charges  put  forth  by  Nand  Kumar,  and 
declared  Hastings  guilty  of  having  amassed  no  less  than 
forty  lakhs  of  rupees — £400,000 — in  two  years  and  a-half 
by  all  kinds  of  underhand  means.* 

For  a  moment  Nand  Kumar  could  revel  in  the  sweetness 
of  gratified  revenge.  Courted  by  many  of  his  own  country- 
men, and  strong  in  the  support  of  Francis  and  his  English 
partisans,  he  Uttle  knew  what  an  undercurrent  of  disaster 
was  about  to  drag  him  down  into  its  lowest  depths. 
Scorning  defeat  at  the  hands  of  such  a  foe,  Hastings  turned 
for  help  to  the  Supreme  Court.  A  charge  of  false  swearing 
and  conspiracy  was  lodged  against  the  villanous  Brahman. 
While  the  trial  was  yet  pending  one  Mohan  Prasad  renewed 
on  his  own  account  an  old  action  for  forgery  against  the 
Rajah,  who  had  once  been  saved  from  impending  danger 
by  the  timely  intervention  of  Hastings  himself.  The  case 
thus  suspended  a  few  years  before  was  now  transferred  to 
the  Supreme  Court.  Convicted  on  the  clearest  evidence, 
Nand  Kumar  was  condemned  to  death  in  accordance  with 
the  law  which  Sir  Elijah  Impey  and  his  brother  judges 
were  bound  to  administer. 

It  was  not  the  first  time  that  a  native  of  India  had  been 
doomed  to  the  same  punishment  for   the  same  offence. 

*  The  whole  charge  was  afterwards  proved  to  be  a  wUfal  falsehood, 
founded  on  letters  forged  by  Nand  Ktim^r  himself. 


230  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Ten  years  before  a  Hindu  of  rank  had  only  escaped 
banging  by  a  timely  reprieve  *  ;  but  since  then  at  least 
two  natives  had  been  less  fortunate.  With  the  arraign- 
ment of  the  guilty  Rajah,  Hastings  had  notliing  whatever 
to  do ;  stiU  less,  if  possible,  -ndth  his  execution.  He  had 
been  fairly  tried  before  an  Enghsh  jury,  and  all  four 
judges  had  concurred  in  dooming  him  to  a  felon's  death. 
From  that  fate  neither  Francis  nor  his  colleagues  made 
any  effort  to  save  the  prisoner.  No  prayer  for  respite 
was  presented  by  any  of  the  prisoner's  friends,  native  or 
Enghsh,  to  the  Supreme  Court.  One  petition,  indeed, 
was  forwarded  by  Nand  Kumar  himself  to  General  Claver- 
ing  of  the  Supreme  Council  ;  but  that  petition  was  first 
presented  at  the  Council  Board  eleven  days  after  the 
writer's  death,  and  Francis  it  was  who  proposed  to  have 
it  burned  as  a  libel  by  the  hands  of  the  common  hang- 
man. 

On  the  morning  of  the  5th  August,  1775,  Nand  Kumar 
underwent  the  doom  which,  as  a  British  subject  amenable 
to  the  stern  English  law  of  that  day,  he  had  richly 
deserved.  The  most  brilliant  of  Enghsh  essayists  has 
drawn  a  powerful  pictiu-e  of  the  horror,  grief,  dismay, 
which  the  hanging  of  so  eminent  a  Brahman,  for  an 
ofl'ence  in  native  eyes  so  venial,  produced  upon  the  minds 
of  his  countrymen  in  Calcutta  and  elsewhere.  Blore  than 
one  historian  of  British  India  has  dressed  up  in  his  ovra 
words  the  lurid  fiction  which  Francis  was  the  fu-st  to 
circulate  many  years  after  the  event.  In  plain  truth, 
however,  the  sentence  of  the  law  was  cai-ried  out  before 
spectators   moved   far   more    by   curiosity   than    concern. 

Of  the  Hindus  who  thronged  at  the  gallows'  foot  few 
gave  any  signs  of  wild  excitement.  No  loud  shriek  of 
horror  and  despair  went  up  to  heaven  from  the  gathered 

*  "Memoirs  of  Sir  Elijah  Impey,"  by  his  Son,  pp.  99  and  299,  4c. 
The  reprieve  of  Kadachand  Mithra  had  been  owing  to  the  fact  that  he 
was  the  first  Hindu  condemned  for  forgery  under  English  law. 


EVENTS    IN    SOUTHERN    AND    UPPER    INDIA.  231 

mass ;  but  au  audible  hum  of  satisfaction  went  round  tbe 
Jlobammadans  as  tbe  drop  fell  upon  "  tbe  worst  man  in 
India,"  tbe  peijured  persecutor  of  Mobammad  Reza  Ivban. 
As  for  tbe  alleged  rusb  of  sorrowing  Hindus  to  wash  out 
tbe  pollution  of  witnessing  sucb  a  sigbt  in  tbe  sacred 
Hugbb,  it  was  simply  a  natural  movement  from  tbe  scene 
of  a  tragedy  already  complete  to  tbe  wonted  bathing-ghats 
of  a  river  that  rolled  hard  by.* 


*  It  is  a  pity  that  Macaulay's  splendid  essay  on  Warren  Hastings 
should  have  been  marred  by  his  rash  adoption  of  the  slanders  cir- 
culated by  Sir  Philip  Francis  against  both  Hastings  and  Sir  Elijah 
Impey.  The  whole  stoiy  of  Nand  Kumar's  trial  and  execution,  as 
told  in  his  pages,  betrays  a  curious  want  of  insight  into  the  character 
of  Francis,  a  perverse  blindness  to  the  legal  questions  involved  in  the 
case,  and  an  unaccountable  ignorance  of  the  documents  whence 
Mr.  Impey  drew  the  means  of  clearing  not  only  his  own  father  but 
Hastings  himself  from  the  groundless  inventions  of  a  spiteful  partisan. 


CHAPTER  m. 

WAEKEN    HASTINGS 1775-1786. 

The  troubles  of  Hastings  were  not  over  with  the  death  of 
Nand  Kumar.  His  wiser  policy  was  thwarted  at  every 
turn  by  the  mischievons  meddling  of  Francis  and  his 
partisans.  In  Audh  their  chosen  agent,  Bristow,  sup- 
ported the  ladies  of  the  late  Nawab's  household  in  their 
seemingly  unfounded  claim  to  all  the  treasure,  about  two 
miUions  sterUng,  which  Shuja-ud-daula  had  left  behind 
him.  In  spite  of  his  own  empty  treasury,  of  his  growing 
debts  to  the  Bengal  Government,  and  of  the  Governor- 
General's  earnest  remonstrances,  the  new  Nawab- Vizier 
was  compelled  to  forego  his  just  share  of  the  property  in 
dispute.  A  fearful  mutiny  among  his  unpaid  troops,  quelled 
at  last  with  heavy  loss  of  life,  was  the  naturaJ,  if  sad  re- 
sult of  the  measures  sanctioned  by  the  Calcutta  Council. 

Nor  was  the  outlook  for  Hastings  much  brighter  else- 
where. If  he  had  many  friends  both  in  India  and  in 
England,  the  Prime  Minister,  Lord  North,  and  a  majority 
in  the  Court  of  Directors  sided  with  his  opponents  in  the 
Bengal  Council.  His  measures  were  condemned  by  the 
Directors,  who,  under  Lord  North's  prompting,  sought  to 
remove  him  from  his  post ;  but  the  Court  of  Proprietors 
flocked  to  his  support,  and  quashed,  by  a  large  majority, 
the  vote  of  their  own  directors.  Thus  encouraged,  Hastings 
struggled  on  at  his  thankless  task.  At  last,  in  September, 
1776,  the  death  of  Colonel  Monson  gave  him  the  casting 
vote  in  his  own  council.     Once  more  he  found  himself 


WAKREN    HASTINGS, 


283 


free  to  govern  in  his  own  way,  tmcliecked  by  the  ignorance 
or  the  malice  of  inferior  men. 

But  a  new  danger  ere  long  confronted  him.  During  the 
previous  troubles  he  had  lodged  with  Colonel  Maclean  a 
conditional  offer  to  resign  his  post.  This  offer,  in  spite  of 
its  subsequent  withdrawal,  the  Directors  chose  to  accept  as 
final,  and  Mr.  Wheeler  was  ordered  out  to  replace  him. 
Before  his  arrival  the  senior  member  of  council.  General 
Clavering,  had  installed  himself  as  acting  Governor-General, 
and  commanded  the  troops  in  Fort  William  to  obey  no 
other  orders  than  his  own.  Francis,  of  course,  was  ready 
to  follow  up  any  blow  aimed  at  his  hated  rival.  But 
Hastings  had  no  mind  to  throw  up  a  doubtful  game.  His 
own  orders  to  the  troops  were  cheerfully  obeyed.  Colonel 
Morgan  at  once  closed  the  gates  of  Fort  Wilham  against 
Clavering.  A  like  answer  came  from  Barrackpore.  An 
appeal  made  by  Hastings  to  the  Supreme  Court  clinched 
the  defeat  of  his  opponents.  Impey  and  his  fellow  judges 
ruled  that  Clavering  had  no  power  to  assume  an  oiEce 
which  Hastings  had  not  yet  formally  resigned.  The 
General  and  his  followers  had  the  wisdom  to  accept  the 
award,  and  Hastings,  who  had  promised  to  accept  it  for 
worse  or  better,  at  once  withdrew  from  all  further  action 
against  his  defeated  colleague.* 

Two  months  afterwards  Clavering  died,  and  Wheeler, 
who  had  gone  out  to  replace  Monson,  usually  voted  with 
Francis  against  the  Governor-General.  Hastings,  how- 
ever, had  still  the  casting  vote,  and  the  gallant  Sir  Eyre 
Coote,  who  presently  took  his  seat  in  council  as  successor 
to  Clavering  in  the  chief  command  of  the  troops,  gave 
small  encouragement  to  the  factious  Francis. 

During  the  lull  which  followed  this  passing  squall, 
Hastings  carried  on  the  work  of  government  with  a  firm 
and  skUfnl  hand.     Before  the  last  settlement  of  the  land 

*  See  letter  from  Sir  E.  Impey,  quoted  by  his  son.  "  Memoirs," 
pp.  162—5. 


23i  HISTORY    OF   INDLi. 

revenue  expired  in  1777,  he  had  sent  out  commissioners 
to  collect  the  means  of  renewing  it  in  a  hetter  form,  with 
especial  regard  for  the  just  claims  of  the  Kayats  or  husband- 
men to  protection  from  the  demands  of  encroaching  or 
needy  Zamindars.  The  latter  also  were  to  be  assessed 
at  a  lighter  rate,  for  many  of  them  had  suffered  heavily 
under  the  assessments  of  1772.  For  the  next  four  years 
the  revised  leases  were  renewed  yearly,  with  such  cor- 
rections as  policy  or  justice  might  demand.  Meanwhile 
the  enemies  of  Hastings  at  home  still  found  fault  with 
everything  he  did  or  planned ;  but  in  spite  of  all  theii- 
railings,  the  services  of  such  a  ruler  were  not  to  be  lightly 
dispensed  with  at  a  time  when  England,  hard  pressed  by 
a  war  with  her  American  colonies  and  threatened  on  all 
sides  by  European  foes,  had  special  need  of  all  her 
ablest  men.  At  the  end  of  his  term  of  oifice  in  1778, 
Hastings  found  himself  reappointed  for  another  five 
years. 

At  that  time  a  new  danger  was  met  by  the  dauntless 
Viceroy  with  his  usual  readiness  of  resource.  In  1775 
the  Bombay  Government  had  somewhat  rashly  pledged 
itself  to  uphold  the  cause  of  Ragoba,  the  erewhile  con- 
queror of  Labor  and  sometime  prisoner  of  his  nephew 
Madhu  Rao,  against  a  rival  claimant  to  the  headship  of 
the  Maratha  League.  On  the  mm-der  of  Madhu's  brother, 
the  young  and  promising  Xai-ain  Rao,  in  1772,  his  restless 
uncle  and  suspected  mui-derer,  Ragoba,  had  declared  him- 
self Pt'shwa,  while  another  party  headed  by  the  able 
Brahman  Minister,  Nana  Famawis,  set  up  an  infant  son 
of  Miidhu  Rao  on  the  throne  of  his  murdered  uncle 
Narain  Rao.  The  Maratha  leaders  took  diflerent  sides  ac- 
cording as  their  interests  or  jealousies  might  lead  them. 
Ragoba  turned  for  help  to  the  EngUsh  at  Bombay,  who 
were  nothing  loath  to  turn  his  needs  to  their  own  advan- 
tage. Without  consulting  the  Government  of  Bengal, 
they  agreed  to  help  him  with  a  body  of  troops  in  return  for 


WARKEN    HASTINGS.  235 

the  cession  of  Salsette  and  Bassein,  an  island  and  a  port 
near  Bombay  itself,  and  for  a  handsome  yearly  payment 
to  the  Bombay  Treasury.  Colonel  Keating  led  his  troops 
into  the  Maratha  country,  routed  an  army  ten-fold  stronger 
than  his  own  at  Arras,  near  Baroda,  and  drove  the  enemy 
across  the  Narbadha,  while  a  heavy  defeat  was  inflicted  on 
the  Marathas  by  sea. 

If  Hastings  condemned  the  Treaty  of  Surat  as  an  im- 
politic measure  which  he  had  never  sanctioned,  he  was  not 
for  rashly  setting  it  aside  in  the  face  of  these  successes. 
But  in  these  days  the  pai-ty  of  Francis  had  its  own  way  in 
the  Bengal  Council ;  and  the  Bombay  Government  was 
ordered  to  withdi-aw  all  its  troops  forthv,-ith.  Colonel 
Upton  was  sent  from  Calcutta  to  imdo  the  work  so  pro- 
misingly begun.  But  the  insolence  of  the  Pima  Regency 
had  well-nigh  renewed  the  war,  when  Nana  Farnawis  at 
length  accepted  the  compromise  offered  by  the  EngUsh 
envoy.  By  the  Treaty  of  Puranda  the  English  retained 
possession  of  Salsette,  which  they  had  already  won  ;  their 
claim  on  the  revenues  of  Baroch  was  also  acknowledged  ; 
but  the  rest  of  their  agi-eement  with  Ragoba  was  fonnally 
annulled,  in  return  for  a  pension  allotted  by  the  Pima 
Government  to  then-  late  ally. 

New  causes  of  quaiTel,  however,  soon  arose.  A  des- 
patch from  the  Court  of  Directors  confirmed  the  former 
treaty  with  Ragoba.  Neither  at  Bombay  nor  Pima  was 
the  new  treaty  carefully  observed.  From  mutual  bicker- 
ings the  quarrel  proceeded  to  words  and  acts  of  mutual 
defiance.  Sm"at  was  occupied  by  troops  from  Bombay. 
Ragoba  himself  was  welcomed  to  the  former  city  as  an 
honoured  guest.  On  the  other  hand,  a  French  adventurer 
was  received  at  Pima  with  open  arms  as  an  accredited 
envoy  from  the  King  of  France,  who  was  just  on  the  point 
of  declaring  war-  with  England.  Hastings  also  was  now 
free  to  act  according  to  his  own  judgment ;  and  the  timely 
secession   of  Sakharam   Bapu    from  the    Pima   Regency 


236  HISTORY   OF   INDIA. 

furnished  a  new  plea  for  returning  to  the  policy  always 
favoured  at  Bombay. 

At  length,  in  the  cold  season  of  1778,  an  English  force 
took  the  field  from  the  western  capital,  while  a  Bengal 
column  under  the  skilful  Colonel  Goddard  pushed  on 
through  Bundalkhand  and  Malwa,  to  cross  the  Narbadha 
before  the  close  of  the  year.  Meanwhile  the  Nana  had 
struck  some  hard  blows  at  his  Maratha  assailants ;  and 
Ragoba's  prospects  were  already  darkening  when  Colonel 
Egerton  advanced  towards  Piina  across  the  Ghats.  They 
were  now  to  become  still  darker.  At  Taligaon,  within  a 
forced  march  of  Puna  itself,  a  strange  panic  beset  the 
Commissioner,  Mr.  Carnac,  whose  powers  entirely  over- 
ruled those  of  the  English  commanders.  The  order  for 
retreat  was  given,  the  guns  were  hastily  thi-own  into  a 
pond,  and  nothing  but  the  cool  courage  of  Captain  Hartley 
and  his  rear-guard  of  Sepoys  saved  the  whole  force  from 
annihilation  at  the  hands  of  an  enemy  who  had  hitherto 
shrunk  from  barring  its  advance.  Two  days  later,  on  the 
13th  January,  1779,  the  English  leaders  crowned  their 
disgrace  by  bargaining  for  a  safe  retreat  for  an  army 
which  under  better  handling  might  have  borne  Eagoba  in 
triumph  to  the  Maratha  capital. 

A  new  gleam  of  hope,  however,  was  soon  to  shine  for 
that  luckless  prince.  Neither  at  Bombay  nor  Calcutta 
was  any  respect  shown  for  the  disgraceful  Convention  of 
Worgaom.  Its  English  authors  were  dismissed  the  Com- 
pany's service.  Colonel  Goddard  brought  his  troops  in 
safety  to  Surat.  His  proposals  for  a  fresh  treaty  falling 
through,  he  took  the  field  at  the  beginning  of  1780, 
captured  among  other  places  Ahmadabad,  the  stately 
capital  of  Gujarat,  and  twice  defeated  the  Maratha  troops 
of  Sindia  and  Holkar.  The  gallant  Hartley  pushed  his 
way  in  the  Kiinkan.  Meanwhile,  another  Bengal  column 
under  the  daring  Major  Popham,  which  had  been  sent  by 
Hastings  across  the  Jamna,  drove  Sindia's  Marathas  before 


WABREN   HASTINGS.  237 

them,  stormed  the  fort  of  Lahor,  and  carried  by  a  well- 
planned  escalade  the  formidable  rock-fortress  of  Gwalior, 
which  Coote  himself  had  deemed  it  madness  to  attack.* 
Before  the  year's  end  Bassein  had  surrendered  to  God- 
dard,  and  the  dashing  Hartley  crowned  his  former  exploits 
by  signally  defeating  20,000  Marathas  who  had  been 
pressing  him  hard  for  two  days. 

These  successes  were  followed  by  the  surprise  and  rout 
of  Sindia,t  in  Mai'ch,  1781,  at  the  hands  of  Popham's 
successor,  Colonel  Camac.  On  the  west,  however,  God- 
dard  was  less  fortunate.  A  mighty  gathering  of  the 
Maiatha  hosts  baiTed  his  way  to  Piina  from  the  top  of  the 
Ghats  and  went  near  to  cut  off  his  retreat.  To  advance 
was  hopeless,  to  stand  still  was  httle  better.  It  only 
remained  for  him  to  attempt  a  hazardous  retreat  before 
60,000  pursuers,  keen  for  his  destruction.  Thanks  to 
their  own  courage  and  their  leader's  skill,  his  troops  suc- 
ceeded in  the  attempt,  but  not  without  paying  dearly  for 
their  success. 

By  this  time,  however,  evil  tidings  had  come  to  Hastings 
from  Madras.  Ever  since  their  rejection  of  his  prayers 
for  help  against  the  Marathas,  Haidar  Ali  had  been  nursing 
his  revenge  against  the  English.  For  some  years,  how- 
ever, he  contented  himself  with  trying  to  repair  his  crip- 
pled fortunes  at  evei-y  turn.  Before  the  end  of  1772  he 
had  subdued  the  brave  highlanders  of  Kiirg,  himdreds  of 
whom  were  murdered  by  his  orders  in  cold  blood.  In 
little  more  than  a  year  later  he  had  made  good  all  his 
former  losses,  and  before  the  end  of  1776  new  provinces 
had  been  added  to  his  widening  frontier.  Two  years  later 
his  northern  frontier  had  been  pushed  up  to  the  Kistna. 

Meanwhile  Haidar's  fear  of  the  Marathas  had  tempted 

*  It  was  taken  by  Captain  Bruce  and  twenty  Sepoys. 

f  Mahdaji  Sindia,  a  younger  son  of  Ranoji  Sindia,  had  escaped,  with 
a  wound  which  lamed  him  for  life,  from  the  rout  of  Panipat,  to  become 
the  head  of  the  house  of  Sindia. 


238  HISTORY    OF   DTDIA. 

him  more  than  once  to  renew  his  overtures  to  the  English 
at  Madras.  But  the  latter,  taken  np  with  their  own 
schemes,  quarrels,  and  perplexities,  paid  little  heed  to  the 
advances  of  a  neighbour  whose  power  for  mischief  they 
underrated,  or  whose  friendliness  they  would  not  trust. 
Balked  by  the  home  government  in  their  unjust  designs  on 
Tanjor,  overruled  continually  by  orders  from  Calcutta, 
hampered  by  their  relations  with  theNawab  of  the  Camatic, 
and  pressed  by  a  chronic  want  of  funds,  the  Madras  Coun- 
cil filled  up  the  measure  of  their  weakness  by  reckless 
quarrelling  among  themselves.  One  governor  was  sent 
home  in  disgi-ace  ;  another.  Lord  Pigot,  was  held  prisoner 
by  his  colleagues  for  several  months;  and  his  successor, 
Sir  Thomas  Rumbold,  became  fi-om  the  first  a  mark  for 
the  many  slanders  which  were  destined  low  to  sm-vive 
him. 

Hardly  had  Rumbold  taken  up  his  office,  when  he 
learned  that  war  had  aheady  broken  out  between  France 
and  England.  This  became  the  signal  for  a  prompt  attack 
on  the  few  places  still  held  by  the  French  in  Southern 
India.  With  the  fall  of  Pondicherry  in  October,  1778, 
Mahe  alone,  a  town  on  the  western  coast,  remained  in 
French  hands.  In  the  following  March,  Mahe  also  fell  to 
our  arms,  and  very  wroth  thereat  was  Haidar  Ali,  some 
of  whose  troops  had  aided  in  the  defence.  His  ano-er  at 
the  blow  thus  dealt  to  his  secret  friends  was  increased  bv 
the  march  of  English  troops  through  his  newly  conquered 
province  of  Kai-pa  into  the  Gantiir  district,  which  Niziim 
All's  brother  Basalat  Jang  had  lately  rented  to  the  govern- 
ment of  Madras.*  Now,  if  ever,  had  come  the  time  to 
drive  his  old  enemies  into  the  sea.  His  own  army, 
90,000  strong,  well-equipped,  and  trained  by  French 
officers,  might  alone  suffice  for  that  purpose.  Backed  by 
the  hosts  of  Nizam  Ali  and  Nana  Farnawis,  its  shock 
would  be  irresistible. 

*  Hiiidar  had  long  marked  out  Gantur  for  himself. 


WAKREN    HASTINGS.  239 

A  willing  listener  to  a  tempting  offer  did  the  envoy  from 
Puna  find  in  the  fierce  old  sovereign  of  Maisor.  If  Haidar 
loved  the  Manithas  little  more  than  the  EngUsh,  he  had 
no  objection  to  make  use  of  either  for  his  own  ends. 
Turning  a  deaf  ear  to  the  counter  offers  now  made  by  Sir 
Thomas  Rumbold,  he  prepared,  in  his  seventy-eighth  year, 
for  a  campaign  which  might  end  in  leaving  him  master  of 
all  Southern  India.  Happily  for  us  at  this  critical  moment, 
Nizam  All's  quarrel  with  his  Enghsh  neighbours,  regarding 
the  tribute  claimed  from  them  for  the  Northern  Sarkars, 
was  allayed  by  the  timely  interference  of  the  Governor- 
General,  enforced  perhaps  by  his  own  fears  of  the  danger 
involved  in  furthering  the  secret  schemes  of  so  ambitious 
a  plotter  as  the  Sultan  of  Maisor.* 

If  Humbold  was  dimly  aware  of  coming  danger,  neither 
his  own  councillors  nor  Hastings  himself,  at  the  beginning 
of  1780,  seems  to  have  guessed  how  near  and  terrible  that 
danger  was.t  Sir  Hector  Munro  himself,  as  head  of  the 
Madras  army,  made  no  effort  to  meet  the  storm  whose 
warning  murmurs  already  filled  the  air.  In  every  mosque 
and  pagoda  of  Maisor  Haidar's  agents  were  busy  preaching 
a  Jihad  or  holy  war  against  the  infidels  from  the  West. 
At  length,  in  July  1780,  the  hosts  of  Maisor  poui-ed  like  a 
lava-flood  thi-ough  their  mountain-passes  over  the  Carnatic; 
their  progress  marked  by  burning  villages,  whose  smoke 
ere  long  became  clearly  visible  to  scared  spectators  from 
the  heights  near  Madras. 

To  meet  this  formidable  inroad.  Sir  Hector  Munro,  with 
about  five  thousand  men,  set  out  from  Conjeveram,  while 
Colonel  BaiUie  had  to  lead  about  half  that  number  round 

»  It  was  given  out  that  Haidar  had  obtained  from  the  puppet 
Emperor  of  Dehli  a  formal  grant  of  sovereignty  over  all  the  Nizam's 
dominions. 

t  In  reply  to  Rnmbold's  warnings,  Hastings  declared  himself  "  con- 
vinced, from  Hyder's  conduct  and  disposition,  that  he  will  never  molest 
ns  while  we  preserve  a  good  understanding  with  him."  See  Marsh- 
man's  "  India,"  vol.  i..  Appendix. 


240  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

from  Gantiir.  Precious  days  were  lost  to  the  latter  by  a 
sadden  flood ;  and  on  the  6th  September,  when  he  was 
only  a  long  day's  march  from  Conjeveram,  his  little  force 
was  fiercely  attacked  by  Tippu,  the  brave  son  of  Haidar. 
A  timely  reinforcement,  under  Colonel  Fletcher,  enabled 
Baillie  to  press  onwards  until  the  9th,  when  only  two 
or  three  mDes  divided  him  from  Munro.  But  between 
them  lay  the  bulk  of  Haidar's  army,  and  next  morning 
Bailhe  saw  himself  beset  on  all  sides  by  overwhelming 
odds.  All  that  day  his  men  fought  on  under  every  dis- 
advantage, vainly  hoping  for  the  help  that  never  came. 
The  victor  of  Baxar  proved  utterly  false  to  his  old  renown. 
Unmoved  by  the  sounds  of  the  heavy  firing  which  was 
dealing  havoc  in  his  subaltern's  ranks,  Munro  never 
budged  an  inch  to  rescue  him.  At  last,  in  despair  of 
maintaining  a  hopeless  struggle,  BaiUie  surrendered,  and 
thi'ee  hundred  English  soldiers,  the  feeble  remnant  of  his 
shattered  force,  laid  down  their  arms.  But  for  the  timely 
interference  of  Haidar's  French  officers,  even  these,  in 
spite  of  their  surrender,  would  have  all  been  butchered 
where  they  stood.  As  it  turned  out,  few  of  them  were 
destined  to  survive  the  wasting  effects  of  wounds,  sickness, 
and  prolonged  Ul-treatment  in  the  noisome  prisons  of 
Maisor.* 

Munro  himself,  who  seems  to  have  been  paralysed  by  the 
impending  failure  of  supplies  for  his  own  army,  fell  back 
at  once  to  Conjeveram.  Thence,  after  throwing  his  heavy 
guns  into  a  tank,  and  sacrificing  much  baggage,  he  hurried 
off  in  quest  of  supplies  to  Chinghpat.  Disappointed  there 
also,  he  retreated  on  the  lith  September  to  St.  Thomas's 
Mount,  near  Madi-as,  leaving  Haidar  to  waste  the  Camatic 
at  his  leisure,  and  to  biing  the  siege  of  Arkot  to  a  suc- 
cessful close. 

When    tidings    of   these    disasters    reached    Calcutta, 

*  Out  of  Baillie's  eighty-six  officers,  thirty-six  were  slain  or  mortally 
wounded,  and  only  sixteen  surrendered  without  a  wound. 


WARKEN    HASTINGS.  211 

Hastings  met  the  occasion  with  his  wonted  fearlessness. 
A  fresh  quarrel  with  his  old  enemy  Francis,  who  had 
broken  his  pledge  to  oppose  none  of  Hastings'  larger 
measures  after  the  return  home  of  Mr.  Bai-weU,  had  just 
issued  in  a  duel,  fi'om  which  Francis  bore  ofl'  a  wound  that 
did  not  tend  to  improve  his  temper.  Backed,  however, 
by  Sir  Eyre  Coote,  Hastings  kept  the  upper  hand  in  his 
Council.  Not  a  moment  did  he  now  lose  in  developing 
his  own  plans  for  the  salvation  of  Madras  at  any  cost.  Sir 
Eyre  Coote,  with  a  choice  array  of  Bengal  troops,  was  at 
once  despatched  to  the  scene  of  danger  in  supersession  of 
Monro.  The  acting  Governor  of  Madras  was  removed 
from  his  post.  Even  the  Company's  remittances  to  Eng- 
land were  held  back  for  the  better  carrjing  on  of  war 
against  Haidar  AH. 

Ai-rived  at  Madras,  Clive's  old  comrade  hurried  off  to 
the  reUef  of  "Wandiwash,  the  scene  of  his  former  victory 
over  Lally.  The  news  of  his  approach  frightened  the 
enemy  away  from  a  place  which  Lieutenant  Flint,  with  the 
aid  of  a  hundred  men,  had  been  defending  with  the  courage 
of  a  second  Clive.  The  rehef  of  Chinghpat  and  the  capture 
of  Karangali  had  marked  the  fii'st  stages  of  Coote's  advance. 
Coote's  repulse  in  June  before  Chillambram  encouraged 
Haidar  to  make  a  dash  on  Ivadalor,  while  Coote  was 
resting  his  troops  at  Porto  Novo.  But  the  fiery  veteran 
made  haste  to  grapple  with  his  powerful  opponent,  and  on 
the  1st  July  his  eight  thousand  mea  hurled  themselves 
against  ten  times  their  number  with  a  force  that  nothing 
could  long  withstand.  After  six  hours'  fighting  the  enemy- 
fled,  leaving  ten  thousand  on  the  field,  while  Coote's  loss 
amounted  only  to  thi'ee  hundred,  so  well  had  his  guns 
been  served. 

Again  the  two  anaies  came  together  in  August  near  the 
scene  of  Baillie's  great  disaster ;  but  this  time  the  victory 
was  less  complete.  On  the  27th  September,  however, 
Haidar  was  utterly  defeated  at  ShoUmgarh,  with  the  loss 

R 


212  niSTORY    OF    INDIA, 

of  five  tbousauil  meu.  By  this  time  Lord  Macartno_y,  the 
new  Governor  of  Madras,  was  preparing  another  force  for 
the  capture  of  the  Dutch  possessions  in  Southern  India ; 
Holland  also  having  been  added  to  the  number  of  our  foes. 
The  fall  of  Negapatam  in  November  was  followed  in 
January  of  the  next  year  by  the  capture  of  Trincomalee, 
in  the  neighbouring  island  of  Ceylon. 

Before  Coote  took  the  field  again,  Mohammad  All,  the 
worthless  ruler  of  the  Camatic,  had  been  forced  to  make 
over  to  the  Company  for  five  years  the  revenues  he  had 
hitherto  squandered  on  himself,  while  the  men  who  fought 
for  him  were  in  perpetual  risk  of  starving.  Thenceforth 
the  movements  of  our  troops  would  not  be  hampered  by 
the  want  of  those  suppUes  which  the  Nawab  bad  so  often 
failed  to  furnish  at  the  right  moment. 

In  the  beginnmg  of  1782  Coote  hastened  to  the  relief  of 
VeUor,  which,  but  for  his  timely  movement,  must  soon 
have  fallen  into  Haidar's  clutches.  A  few  days  later  the 
arrival  of  succours  from  Bombay  enabled  Major  Abingdon, 
the  bold  defender  of  Talicharri,  in  Malabar,  to  rout  the 
army  which  had  vainly  besieged  him  for  eighteen  months. 
Calicut,  on  the  same  coast,  next  fell  to  the  English  arms. 
But  these  successes  were  soon  to  be  balanced  by  failures 
and  mishaps  elsewhere.  Forty  thousand  of  Tippu's  soldiers 
fell  upon  Colonel  Braithwaite's  Httle  force  of  two  thousand 
men — nearly  all  Sepoys — in  Tanjor ;  and  after  a  fight, 
prolonged  with  matchless  heroism,  for  twenty-six  hours, 
the  wasted  remnants  of  Braithwaite's  band  were  saved 
from  utter  extinction  only  by  the  generous  efibrts  of 
Tippu's  French  allies.  French  fleets  appeared  from  time 
to  time  on  the  Madras  coast,  to  be  encountered  with  small 
result  by  English  admirals.  Kadalor  was  taken  at  last 
with  the  help  of  Suffi-ein's  sailors,  and  Admiral  Hughes 
was  too  late  to  save  Trincomalee.  K  Coote's  dashing  energy 
once  more  rescued  Wandiwash,  and  dealt  Tippn  another 
defeat  at  Ai-ni,  his   movement  against  Kadalor  failed  for 


WARREN    HASTINGS.  243 

want  of  timely  succour  from  the  fleet ;  and  the  close  of  that 
year  saw  him  trying  to  recruit  his  shattered  health  in  Bengal. 
What  with  the  desolation  of  the  Carnatic,  the  famine  raging 
around  Madras,  the  daily  expected  landing  of  French 
troops  led  by  the  renowned  Bussy  himself,  the  losses 
caused  to  EngUsh  shipping  by  gales  on  the  eastern  coast, 
and  Humberstone's  retreat  before  Haidar  on  the  Bombay 
side,  the  outlook  for  our  countrj-men  in  Southern  India  at 
the  end  of  1782  was  almost  as  dark  as  ever. 

One  gleam,  however,  brightened  it  even  then.  On  the 
7th  December  Haidar  Ali  died  at  the  great  age  of  eighty, 
worn  out  by  an  illness  which  had  never  kept  him  from 
sharing  like  a  common  trooper  in  the  toils  of  the  past 
campaign.  EarUer  in  the  same  year  Hastings  had  suc- 
ceeded in  detaching  the  last  of  the  Maratha  leaders  from 
their  alliance  with  the  Sultan  of  Maisor.  The  fii-st  to 
make  peace  with  him  was  the  Eajah  of  Berar,  who,  eai'ly 
in  1781,  had  sanctioned  the  march  of  a  Bengal  brigade 
thi'ough  Orissa  towards  Madras.*  His  example  was  fol- 
lowed by  Sindia,  after  his  defeat  by  Colonel  Carnac  ; 
and  at  length,  in  May,  1782,  was  concluded  the  Treaty  of 
Salbai,  which  left  Maisor  to  fight  on  single-handed  against 
the  Enghsh  power.  By  this  treaty  Sindia  regained  his 
lost  possessions,  all  but  Gwalior,  besides  new  territory 
about  Bai'och ;  the  Gaikwar  of  Gujai'at  became  an  inde- 
pendent piince ;  Ragoba  was  to  retire  into  private  life  on 
a  handsome  pension  ;  and  Bassein,  with  some  other  dis- 
tricts, was  surrendered  to  Nana  Farnawis  as  regent  for  the 
young  Peshwa.  It  was  not,  however,  till  after  Haidar's 
death  that  the  Nana  set  his  seal  to  a  compact  which 
further  bound  him  to  aid  in  rescuing  the  Carnatic  from 
the  yoke  of  Maisor. 

The  news  of  his  father's  deat^i  brought  Tippn  back  for 
a  time   from   the   western   coast  to   his  own  capital,  to 

*  This  brigade  suffered  heavily  on  its  march  from  cholera,  the 
disease  which  has  since  become  endemic  in  many  parts  of  India, 

r2 


244  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

make  sure  of  his  succession  to  the  vacant  throne.  Ere 
long  death  relieved  him  of  his  stoutest  foe,  the  war-worn 
Cooto,  who  barely  hved  to  reach  Madras  once  more.  In 
April,  1783,  Bussy  himself  landed  on  the  eastern  coast 
and  led  his  Frenchmen  to  the  defence  of  Kadalor.  By 
that  time,  however,  Tippu  was  far  away  to  the  westward, 
opening  his  batteries  on  the  hill-fort  of  Bednor,  held  by 
some  of  the  troops  whose  valour  had  hewn  a  way  for 
General  Matthews  into  the  highlands  of  Maisor.  After  a 
brave  defence,  Bednor  was  surrendered  a  heap  of  ruins, 
and  its  luckless  garrison,  in  breach  of  Tippu's  pledged 
word,  marched  off  in  irons  to  the  neighbouring  fortresses. 
Yet  more  protracted  was  the  defence  of  Mangalor  by 
Colonel  Campbell.  At  last,  however,  the  wasted  garrison, 
cheated  of  the  suppHes  assm-ed  to  them  under  an  armistice, 
were  fortunate  in  being  allowed  to  march  out  with  all  the 
honours  of  war  at  the  end  of  January,  1784. 

Meanwhile  neither  Bussy  nor  General  Stuart  had  made 
much  progress  in  the  Camatic.  Two  saUies  ordered  by 
Bussy  from  Kadalor  were  repulsed  with  heavy  loss.* 
The  fleets  of  Hughes  and  Suffrein  fought  and  parted 
without  result.  At  length  came  tidings  of  peace  between 
France  and  England,  when  all  hostile  movements  on  either 
side  were  staid  by  mutual  agreement,  and  the  French 
officers  in  Tippu's  army  left  him  to  carry  on  the  war 
alone. 

By  this  time  another  British  force  under  Colonel  Fullarton 
was  steadily  advancing  into  the  highlands  of  Maisor.  Be- 
fore him  lay  the  road  to  Seringapatam,  and  a  fair  chance  of 
finishing  the  war  by  a  few  bold  sti'okes.  But  the  Governor 
of  Madras,  unheeding  the  counsel  and  the  commands  of 
Hastings,  stooped  to  sue  for  the  peace  which  Fullarton  was 
eager  to  dictate  under  the  walls  of  Tippu's  capitivl.  That 
brave  officer  was  ordered  to  fall  back,  in  compUance  with  a 

*  In  one  of  these  actions  Serge.%nt  Bernadotte,  the  future  King  of 
Sweden,  was  taken  prisoner  by  the  English, 


W.iRRES    HASTINGS.  245 

truce  which  Tippu  was  openly  breaking.  Lord  Macartney's 
messengers  were  received  with  studied  insolence  by  a 
monarch  bent  on  turning  then-  master's  folly  to  his  own 
profit.  Not  till  Mangalor  had  fallen  into  his  hands  did  the 
wily  Sultan  deign  to  consider  the  object  of  their  errand,  or 
even  to  let  them  enter  his  camp.  At  last,  on  the  11th 
March,  1784,  the  long  series  of  scornful  insults  was  crowned 
by  the  sight  of  two  English  envoys  standing  for  two  hour's 
before  Tippu,  with,  heads  bare,  beseeching  him  tx)  sign  the 
treaty  they  held  in  their  hands.  Their  prayers  were 
finally  granted  at  the  intercession  of  envoys  from  Piina 
and  Haidarabad.  By  this  act  of  needless  self-abasement 
the  Madras  Government  pmxhased  a  peace  which  restored 
to  each  party  their  former  possessions,  and  rescued  more 
than  a  thousand  EngUshmen  from  the  slow  torture  of 
prison  Ufe  in  Maisor.  At  the  best,  however,  it  was  only 
a  hollow  tiTice,  which  Tippu,  at  once  a  fanatic,  a  restless 
schemer,  and  a  bom  foe  to  the  Enghsh,  was  pretty  sui-e 
to  break  at  the  first  opportunity. 


246 


CHAPTER  IV. 

WARREN  HASTINGS — [continued). 

In  the  midst  of  his  anxieties  concerning  the  war  in  Southern 
India,  Hastings  found  himself  involved  in  fresh  troubles 
nearer  home.  The  conflicting  claims  of  the  Company's 
civil  servants  and  the  crown  judges  in  Bengal  to  jurisdic- 
tion over  the  natives  beyond  Calcutta,  had  brought  him  for 
a  time  into  direct  collision  with  the  Supreme  Court,  headed 
by  his  best  friend,  Sir  Elijah  Impey.  A  war  of  writs  on  the 
one  hand,  of  proclamations  on  the  other,  raged  between 
the  two  parties.  Arrests,  resisted  by  the  Company's  soldiers 
acting  under  Hastings'  orders,  were  enforced  by  the  Calcutta 
judges  with  the  help  of  sailors  and  poHcemen  hii-ed  for  the 
purpose.  Hastings  forbade  the  Bengal  Zamindars  from 
obeying  the  decrees  of  a  court  whose  claims  appeared  to 
clash  with  the  higher  interests  of  the  State.  The  Chief 
Justice  in  his  turn  issued  summonses  against  the  Governor- 
General  and  his  Council,  a  proceeding  which  the  latter 
laughed  to  scorn.  Stories  of  outrages  committed  on  either 
side  were  rife  throughout  the  country,  and  the  whole 
machinery  of  government  was  fast  approaching  a  dead 
lock. 

Happily,  just  before  the  departure  of  Francis,  the  quar- 
rel was  appeased  by  a  timely  movement  on  Hastings' 
part.  The  Sadr  Dewani  Adiilat,  or  chief  civil  court  of 
Bengal,  as  reformed  by  Hastings  a  few  months  earlier, 
was  placed  before  the  end  of  1780  under  the  charge  of 
Impey  himself.  The  wisdom  of  this  step  soon  became 
clear.     An   able   lawyer   and   an   upright  judge,   Impoy 


■WAKREN    HASTINGS. 


247 


at  once  drew  up  a  Biinple  and  serviceable  code  of  rules 
for  the  better  administration  of  civil  justice  through- 
out Bengal.  The  young  English  judges  in  the  lower 
courts  soon  learned  to  mend  their  ways  and  shape  their 
judgments  in  careful  accordance  with  the  principles  laid 
down  by  their  new  chief.  The  old  broils  between  rival 
authorities  came  to  an  end ;  law  and  order  reigned  once 
more  throughout  the  pro\'ince  ;  waste  lands  were  brought 
again  imder  the  plough  ;  and  revenue  began  to  flow  with 
its  former  freedom  into  the  Company's  treasury. 

This  stroke  of  policy  on  the  part  of  Hastings  was  hailed 
at  the  time  by  the  Court  of  Directors  with  their  hearty 
approval.  But  ere  long  their  ears  were  poisoned  by 
slanders  emanating  from  the  spiteful  Francis,  who,  leav- 
ing India  at  the  end  of  1780,  had  carried  his  rancour  and 
a  goodly  fortune  home.  In  the  course  of  1782  they  de- 
creed the  removal  of  Impey  from  a  post  whose  burdens 
he  had  meanwhile  borne  with  signal  credit,  at  his  own 
unaided  cost.*  A  few  months  afterwards,  his  enemies  at 
home  had  succeeded  in  carrying  through  the  House  of 
Commons  a  vote  for  the  absolute  recall  of  a  Chief  Justice 
who  had  ventured  to  take  ofiice  under  the  Company  while 
yet  a  servant  of  the  Crown. 

Meanwhile  Hastings,  pressed  for  money  to  carry  on  the 
■war  with  Haidar,  had  demanded  from  his  feudatory,  the 
Eajah  of  Banaras,  a  special  aid  of  £50,000  and  2,000 
horse.  Chait  Singh's  evasive  answers  failed  to  soften  the 
heart  of  a  governor  who  had  good  reason  to  believe  in  the 
Rajah's  power  to  meet  so  moderate  a  demand.  Not  tUl 
Hastings  approached  Banaras  in  August,  1781,  did  Chait 
Singh  strive  to  avert  his  anger  by  begging  him  to  take 
twenty  lakhs   of  rupees — £200,000 — in    payment    of  aU 

*  Through  his  acceptance  of  this  further  office,  "  the  Chief  Justice," 
says  Macaulay,  "was  rich,  quiet,  and  infamous."  Unluckily  for  the 
brilliant  essayist,  the  fact  is  that  Impey  refused  the  additional  £5,000 
a-year  which  the  Calcutta  CouncU  would  gladly  have  paid  him  for  the 
additional  work. 


248  HISTORY   OF   INBU. 

claims.  Hastings  sternly  insisted  on  fifty  lakhs.  A  few 
days  afterwards,  on  reaching  Banaras  with  an  escort  of 
native  troops,  he  placed  the  Rajah  under  arrest.  The 
people  of  the  city  rose  upon  the  Sepoy  guard,  and  slew 
them  almost  to  a  man.  Chait  Singh,  escaping  across  the 
river,  called  his  followers  to  arms.  In  that  hour  of 
supreme  peril,  with  only  half  a  hundred  Sepoys  between 
him  and  the  insurgent  rabble  of  a  great  city,  Hastings 
quietly  gave  the  last  touches  to  his  treaty  with  Sindia. 
Faithful  messengers,  steahng  out  of  Banaras,  can-ied  his 
orders  to  the  nearest  military  posts  in  Bengal.  At  the 
first  opportune  moment,  he  himself  withdrew  to  the  for- 
tress of  Chunar,  to  await  the  issue  of  his  plans  for  sup- 
pressing the  revolt. 

Defeated  in  the  field,  Chait  Singh  fled  at  last  into 
Bundalkhand.  His  stronghold  of  Bijigarh  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Major  Popham,  the  conqueror  of  Gwalior,  and 
the  booty  found  there  was  divided  among  our  troops. 
The  bulk  of  Chait  Singh's  wealth,  however,  had  followed 
him  into  his  place  of  exile  ;  and  the  Governor-General, 
balked  of  his  prey,  consoled  himself  by  exacting  a  larger 
tribute  from  the  prince  whom  he  set  up  in  his  uncle's 
room. 

Hastings  was  yet  at  Chunar,  when  a  new  way  of  re- 
plenishing his  drained  exchequer  was  opened  to  him  by 
the  treaty  which  he  concluded  with  Asaf-ud-daula,  the 
Nawab  of  Audh.  By  this  arrangement,  the  one  dark 
spot,  perhaps,  in  a  bright  career,  the  property  which  the 
Audh  Begams,  the  widow  and  mother  of  the  late  Nawab, 
had  unjustly  retained  for  their  own  use  six  years  before, 
was  now  escheated  to  its  rightful  owner,  the  Nawab  him- 
self. Of  this  sum  at  least  half  a  million  was  paid  into  the 
Bengal  treasmy  in  acquittal  of  the  Nawab's  debts  to  the 
Bengal  Government.  It  was  believed,  indeed,  by  Hastings 
himself  that  the  despoiled  princesses  had  conspired  against 
him  with  Chait  Singh  ;  but  the  grounds  for  such  an  in- 


■WABREX    HASTINGS.  249 

dictment  have  never  been  fully  ascertained,  and  the  harsh 

measures  taken  by  the  Nawab  to  enforce  his  claims  have 
ever  since  redounded,  however  unfairly,  to  the  discredit  of 
Hastings  himself.*  The  money  thus  obtained,  on  what- 
ever pretexts,  enabled  Hastings  to  carrj-  on  the  war  with 
Maisor,  and  to  complete  his  successful  dealings  with  the 
Marathas. 

By  this  time  the  reign  of  the  great  Governor-General 
was  drawing  to  its  close.  Censured  by  the  Court  of 
Directors  for  his  share  in  the  dethronement  of  Chait 
Singh  and  the  plundering  of  the  Audh  Begams,  opposed 
once  more  by  the  members  of  his  own  council,  Hastings 
at  length  prepared  to  throw  up  his  thankless  post.  Before 
carrying  out  his  purpose,  he  visited  Lucknow  in  1784,  and, 
in  compUance  with  orders  received  fi-om  England,  compelled 
the  Nawab-Yizier  to  reinstate  the  Begams  in  their  forfeited 
jagirs.  When  aU  the  more  pressing  affairs  of  his  govern- 
ment had  been  duly  settled,  he  issued  fai-eweU  letters  to 
all  the  native  princes,  handed  over  the  keys  of  Fort 
William  to  his  successor,  Mr.  Macpherson,  and  on  the 
8th  February,  1785,  sped  by  the  good  -n-isbes  of  adniiiing 
thousands,  he  saOed  away  from  the  country  which  he  had 
ruled  for  thirteen  years,  amidst  every  kind  of  danger, 
vexation,  and  discouragement,  with  a  vigour,  wisdom,  self- 
reUance,  and  general  mastery  of  his  means,  unsm-passed, 
if  it  has  ever  since  been  equalled,  ia  the  annals  of  British 
India.  + 

The  welcome  which  Hastings  at  first  received  in  Enc 
land  was  not  unworthy  of  his  high  deserts.     At  Coui-t  he 

*  One  of  the  Be'gams  was  alive,  hearty,  and  "very  rich"  in  1803, 
when  Lord  Talentia  visited  Lucknow.  ("  Memoirs  of  Sir  E.  Impey  '■ 
p.  23G.) 

t  In  Hastings  the  scholar  was  largely  blended  with  the  statesman. 
A  steady  patron  of  Eastern  learning,  he  spoke  the  languages  of  India 
with  ease,  and  was  deeply  versed  in  Arabic  and  Persian  literature. 
Ignorant  himself  of  Sanskrit,  he  encouraged  the  study  of  it  among 
his  countrymen,  and  his  influence  led  the  Pandits  of  Bengal  to  teach 
Ijnglish  scholars  the  classical  lore  of  ancient  India. 


250  HISTORV    OF    INDIA. 

was  treated  with  every  mark  of  respect.  Of  His  Majesty's 
ministers,  Pitt  alone  viewed  the  great  Viceroy  with  un- 
friendly eyes,  and  declined  to  recommend  him  for  the 
peerage  he  had  so  fairly  earned.  His  services  were 
acknowledged  by  the  Court  of  Directors  in  a  formal  sit- 
ting, at  which  no  voice  was  raised  against  him.  He  soon 
found  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Commons.  But  rest  from 
further  trouble  was  not  yet  to  be  his  lot.  Pitt's  ministry 
had  just  succeeded  in  carrying  the  famous  India  Bill  of 
1784,  which  placed  the  Court  of  Directors  under  the 
general  control  of  a  board  composed  of  privy  councillors, 
headed  by  a  minister  of  the  Crown.  If  any  traces  of 
political  power  still  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  Direc- 
tors, the  Court  of  Proprietors  ceased  to  have  any  direct 
voice  in  the  government  of  India.  Under  this  arrange- 
ment Hastings  lost  the  help  of  his  most  serviceable 
friends  ;  and  in  Parliament  his  enemies  were  neither  few 
nor  powerless.  At  their  head  was  the  eloquent  and  high- 
souled  Burke  himself,  supported  by  Fox,  Sheridan,  and 
all  the  strength  of  the  Whigs.  In  the  background  stood 
his  inveterate  foe,  Sir  Philip  Francis,  who  famished  the 
Whig  leaders  with  an  ample  store  of  arguments,  fair  or 
foul,  for  the  coming  attack.  What  friends  Hastings  might 
still  number  on  the  Tory  side  of  the  House  were  all  too 
weak  to  make  head  against  the  hostile  influences  wielded 
by  their  great  leader,  Pitt. 

Early  in  June,  1785,  Burke  opened  his  campaign 
against  the  late  Governor-General,  who  had  landed  in 
England  but  a  few  days  before.  In  April  of  the  following 
year  his  Ust  of  charges  was  laid  before  the  Commons' 
House.  In  the  matter  of  the  RohiUa  war,  Pitt  sided  with 
the  friends  of  Hastings  ;  but  when  the  treatment  of  Chait 
Singh  came  up  for  discussion,  he  was  found  voting  with 
the  majority  in  favour  of  the  motion  brought  up  by  Fox. 
On  the  charge  concerning  the  Audh  Begams,  memorable 
for  Sheridan's   masteq)iece  of  fiery  rhetoric,  Pitt   once 


WAEEEN    HASTINGS.  '251 

more  threw  his  vote  and  influence  into  the  scale  against 
Hastings. 

At  last,  in  February,  1788,  the  final  impeachment  of 
the  great  EngUsh  proconsul  was  begun  before  the  as- 
sembled peers  of  England  by  Burke  himself.  For  seven 
years  the  trial  dragged  on,  until  in  April,  1795,  Hastings 
found  himself  acquitted  on  eveiy  chai-ge  by  a  majority 
always  large,  sometimes  overwhelming,  of  the  twenty-nine 
peers  who  came  to  record  their  votes.  He  left  their  pre- 
sence with  a  clear  character,  but  an  almost  empty  purse, 
the  great  bulk  of  his  moderate  savings  having  gone  to 
meet  the  expenses  of  his  long  trial.  But  the  timely  grant 
of  a  Hberal  pension  by  the  Court  of  Directors  enabled  him 
to  spend  his  declining  years  in  comfort  and  scholarly  ease 
on  the  ancestral  estate  of  Daylesford,  which  had  been  lost 
to  his  family  for  more  than  seventy  years.  Long  after- 
wards, in  1813,  when  the  charter  of  the  East  India  Com- 
pany was  to  be  renewed,  Hastings,  now  in  his  eighty- 
second  year,  once  more  presented  himself  at  the  bar  of 
the  House  of  Commons.  This  time,  however,  he  came, 
not  as  an  aiTaigned  criminal,  but  as  a  ■5\itness  who  bad 
weighty  things  to  say  on  many  questions  of  Indian  govern- 
ment. The  Commons,  who  had  greeted  his  entrance  with 
admiring  cheers,  rose  and  uncovered  when  he  withdrew. 
Other  tokens  of  respect  and  honour  awaited  him  elsewhere, 
in  London,  Oxford,  and  at  Court.  He  w^as  made  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Privy  CouncU,  a  doctor  of  laws  ;  the  Prince 
Regent  presented  him  to  his  royal  guests,  the  Emperor  of 
Russia  and  the  King  of  Pi-ussia,  in  whose  train  he  went  to 
Oxford  ;  and  the  hope  of  yet  higher  honours  once  more 
dawned  upon  him.  But  the  half-promised  peerage  was 
stUl  deferred  ;  and  in  1818  the  white-haii-ed  statesman 
quietly  breathed  his  last  at  Daylesford,  in  the  eighty-sixth 
year  of  a  life  whose  peaceful  ending  could  hardly  have  been 
foregathered  from  its  stormy  noon. 

Before  his  departm-e  from  India,  Hastings  had  ordered 


252  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

the  Govomment  of  Madras  to  annul  the  agreement  which 
placed  the  revenues  of  the  Camatic  at  their  entire  disposal. 
Against  this  act  of  well-meant  but  doubtful  policy,  Lord 
Macartney  fought  for  a  time  with  much  success.  But  a 
fresh  order  fi-om  Dundas,  the  first  President  of  the  new 
Board  of  Control,  overrode  the  policy  upheld  by  Lord 
Macartney  and  sanctioned  by  the  India  House.  Sir  John 
Macpherson,  who  was  acting  in  the  room  of  Hastings, 
shrank  from  disobeyuig  the  commands  of  Dundas  ;  and 
the  revenues,  which  in  English  hands  would  have  been 
turned  to  good  account,  were  at  length  surrendered  into 
those  of  a  spendthrift  prince  who  owed  everything  he  had 
to  English  support  and  forbearance.  The  result  of  this  step 
was  to  enrich  a  number  of  greedy  adventurers,  native  and 
European,  who  had  lent  money  to  the  Naw;ib  at  enormous 
interest,  and  screwed  untold  profits  out  of  the  large  estates 
assigned  them  in  partial  payment  of  their  claims. 

Sir  John  Macpherson  continued  to  hold  office  until  the 
autumn  of  1786,  when  Lord  ComwaUis,  a  statesman  and 
soldier  of  some  merit  dming  the  war  with  our  American 
colonies,  took  up  the  reins  of  power  at  Calcutta.  Sir 
.John's  government,  if  not  otherwise  eventful,  had  been 
marked  by  his  stern  refusal  to  pay  chauth  to  the  Marathas 
for  Bengal,  and  by  his  imdoubted  success  in  reducing 
the  public  outlay.  In  Southern  India  a  brief  war  be- 
tween Tippu  and  the  Mai-athas  rufiied  for  a  time  the 
general  peace ;  and  Sindia  in  the  north  was  already 
scheming  to  overthrow  the  last  relics  of  Moghal  rule 
around  Dehli.  But  not  tUl  after  the  landing  of  Sir  John's 
successor  did  the  old  stonn  of  war  and  general  tumult 
burst  forth  again  with  a  fury  which  English  guns  and 
bayonets  alone  could  check. 


253 


CHAPTER  V. 

LOED    CORNWALLIS 178G-1793. 

Like  mnny  of  his  successors,  Lord  Cornwallis  landed  in 
India  full  of  wise  resolutions  against  war  and  conquest, 
and  eager  only  to  ensure  peace  and  good  government  in 
the  dominions  entrusted  to  his  charge.  For  a  time  his 
efforts  were  rewarded  with  success.  Armed  with  powers 
which  Hastings  would  have  envied,*  he  put  down  abuses 
with  a  stern  hand,  raised  the  salaries  of  the  civil  servants, 
and  set  his  face  like  a  flint  against  every  kind  of  jobbery 
and  crooked  dealing.  The  Nawab-Vizier  of  Audh  was 
sharply  lectured  for  his  shortcomings  as  a  ruler  ;  but  his 
future  payments  to  the  Calcutta  treasury  were  curtailed 
by  more  than  a  third,  and  his  general  right  to  mismanage 
his  own  affairs,  and  waste  his  revenues,  if  he  chose,  in 
riotous  living,  was  carefully  respected. 

By  this  time  Cornwallis  availed  himself  of  the  peace 
lately  renewed  between  Tippu  and  his  neighbours,  to 
enforce  his  claim  to  the  Gantiir  Sarkars,  in  pursuance  of 
a  treaty  made  with  the  Nizam  in  1768.  For  several  years 
after  the  death  of  Basalat  Jang,  his  brother,  on  this  or 
that  pretext,  had  kept  the  province  in  his  own  hands.  At 
length,  in  1788,  seeing  that  Cornwallis  would  brook  no 
fm-ther  trifling,  Nizam  Ali  yielded  up  the  disputed  terri- 
tory, with  a  blandly  expressed  reminder  of  his  own  claims 
under  the  treaty  of  1768.  At  the  same  time,  the  wily  son 
of  Chin  Ivilich  sounded  the  Sultan  of  Maisor  about  form- 
ing a  league  against  the  English.     Tippu's  ready  assent 

*  Cornwallis  was  empowered  to  disregard  the  votes  of  his  Council. 


254  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

was  burdened  by  an  offer  of  marriage  with  the  Nizam's 
daughter.  Wrath  at  the  very  notion  of  such  an  aUiance 
with  the  son  of  a  low-born  adventurer  gave  the  Xiziim  a 
timely  motive  for  withdrawing  from  a  perilous  path,  and 
making  the  best  terms  he  could  with  the  English  Govern- 
ment. It  was  idle  to  hope  for  immediate  possession  of  a 
province  conquered  by  Haidar,  and  firmly  held  by  his 
son  ;  but  CornwaUis  undertook  to  hand  the  Balaghat  over 
to  the  Nizam,  whenever  it  might  fall  into  English  keeping, 
and  promised  to  aid  that  monarch  at  need,  under  the 
terms  of  the  old  treaty,  against  all  common  foes. 

Tippu's  hatred  of  the  English  was  not  lessened  by  this 
new  proof  of  their  readiness  to  meet  his  movements  half 
way.  To  blame  CgrnwaUis  for  taking  these  precautions 
would  be  alike  unfair  to  his  known  character  and  the  cir- 
cumstances of  a  critical  time.  He  knew  that  the  fierce 
bigot  who  inherited  all  Haidar's  schemes  of  conquest  was 
only  waiting  for  the  right  moment  to  avenge  himself  on 
the  power  which  had  thus  far  prevented  him  from  carrying 
his  arms  all  over  Southern  India.  His  attack  on  Tra- 
vankor  in  the  last  days  of  1789,  in  defiance  of  the  treaty 
which  placed  its  Kajah  under  our  protection,  compelled 
ComwalUs  to  take  up  the  challenge  thus  flung  in  his  very 
face. 

A  joint  treaty  for  defence  and  offence  between  the  Enghsh, 
the  Nizam,  and  the  Peshwa,  was  the  answer  promptly 
given  to  that  challenge.  Fifteen  thousand  EngUshmen 
and  Sepoys,  under  General  Medows,  opened  the  campaign 
on  the  side  of  Madras.  In  spite  of  hindrances  caused  by 
the  wretched  Madras  Government,  Medows  worked  his 
way  round  by  Koimbator  into  the  Maisor  highlands,  and 
cari'ied  in  September  the  strong  fort  of  Piilghat.  The 
Manithas  on  their  part  had  not  been  idle,  nor  the  English 
column  despatched  from  Bombay.  Tippu,  on  the  other 
hand,  watched  with  a  tiger's  cunning  for  the  moment  when 
he  might  catch  his  foe  unready  or  asleep.     Such  a  moment 


LORD    CORXWAluLIS.  255 

came  when  Colonel  Floyd's  column,  too  far  from  its  sup- 
ports, was  driven  backwards  with  the  loss  of  several  guns. 
But  the  wUy  Sultan  was  already  overmatched  in  fighting- 
power.  A  strong  division  from  Bengal  reinforced  Medows 
in  November.  On  the  Malabar  side,  Colonel  Hartley 
added  to  the  laurels  he  had  won  ten  years  before  *  by 
routing  the  Maisor  troops,  many  times  his  own  numbers, 
under  the  walls  of  Cahcut.  The  reduction  of  Kananor  by 
Abercrombie  cut  Tippu  off  from  his  last  stronghold  on  the 
western  coast. 

Next  year  Cornwallis  himself,  displacing  the  worthy  but 
not  too  brilliant  Medows,  set  out  at  the  head  of  a  powerful 
army  from  Madras.  Misleading  Tippu  by  a  series  of 
feints,  he  made  his  way  into  Maisor  without  firing  a  shot. 
On  the  21st  March,  Bangalor  surrendered,  in  spite  of 
Tippu's  eflbrts  to  reheve  it.  The  Nizam,  who  had  hitherto 
done  Uttle  for  the  common  cause,  now  joined  the  English 
with  10,000  horsemen,  gaily  apparelled  but  nearly  useless. 
As  for  the  Marathas,  they  never  appeared  at  the  right 
moment.  Cornwallis,  however,  pressed  on  towards  Se- 
ringapatam,  through  a  country  stripped  beforehand  of  all 
supplies.  On  the  13th  May  he  confronted  Tippu  strongly 
posted  on  the  ridge  of  Arikera,  with  the  Kavari  on  his 
right.  By  a  well-planned  night-march  he  turned  the 
enemy's  flank,  and  the  battle  of  the  following  day  resulted 
in  a  victory  which  might  have  placed  the  capital  of  Maisor 
at  the  victor's  mercy.  But  the  troops  were  already  starv- 
ing, disease  was  fast  thinning  their  ranks,  and  of  the 
Marathas  nothing  had  been  heard.  At  last,  on  the  26th, 
the  victorious  army  began  its  retreat  towards  Bangalor. 
A  few  hours  later  our  Maratha  aUies  came  up  with  the 
retiring  columns,  in  good  time  to  assuage  their  hunger, 
but  too  late  to  check  their  backward  march. 

The  rest  of  that  year  was  spent  by  our  troops  in  con- 
quering the  Biiramahal  on  the  eastern  frontier  of  Maisor, 
*  Book  iv.  chap.  3. 


25G  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

and  in  the  capture  of  Nandidrug,  Savandrug,  and  other 
liill-forts  which  native  armies  had  been  wont  to  besiege  in 
vain.  Oui-  native  allies  were  also  busy  worrying  Tippu's 
northern  frontiers.  Koimbator,  on  the  other  hand,  after 
a  long  and  manful  defence  under  Lieutenant  Chalmers, 
feO  at  last,  a  mere  heap  of  ruins,  into  the  hands  of  the 
Sultan,  who  rewarded  its  brave  defenders  by  carryin" 
them  off  to  prison  in  wanton  breach  of  his  pledged  word. 

At  length,  in  January  1792,  Comwallis  led  a  fine  army 
of  22,000  men  with  ninety  guns  against  Seringapatam. 
Reinforced  by  contingents  from  his  native  aUies,  he  planted 
himself  on  the  5th  February  in  front  of  Tippu's  last  great 
stronghold.  A  night-attack,  skilfully  planned  and  bril- 
liantly carried  through,  left  him  master  of  the  outworks  on 
the  morning  of  the  7th,  and  gave  his  troops  a  commanding 
foothold  on  the  island  in  the  Kavari  where  stood  the  city 
itself.  On  the  16th,  Abercrombie's  Bombay  column  came 
up  to  complete  the  circle  of  attack;  and  the  fierce  Sidtan, 
already  frightened  at  the  progi-ess  made  by  the  English 
batteries,  and  disheartened  by  the  panic  among  his  own 
followers,  saw  no  escape  from  utter  ruin  save  in  accepting 
such  tenns  as  the  Enghsh  general  might  choose  to  enforce. 
On  the  22nd  February  Tippu  leained  his  fate.  The 
price  of  his  submission  was  to  be  the  forfeiture  of  half  his 
kingdom,  the  surrender  of  two  sons  as  hostages,  and  the 
payment  of  three  crores  of  i-upees — about  i'3,000,000 — 
towards  the  expenses  of  the  war.  His  proud  spirit  fought 
for  a  time  against  his  better  judgment ;  but  every  voice  iu 
his  council  urged  submission,  and  Tippu  sullenly  gave 
way.  On  the  24th  he  put  his  seal  to  the  first  draft  of 
the  treaty  which  was  to  cripple  his  power  for  ever.  Next 
day  his  sons  were  received  with  all  honour  in  the  English 
camp. 

A  sudden  check  to  the  progi-ess  of  the  treaty  was 
caused  by  the  Governor-General's  somewhat  tardy  effort 
to  rescue  the  friendly  little  state  of  Kiirg  from  Tippu's 


LORD    COEyWALUS.  257 

clutches.  For  some  days  it  seemed  as  if  the  wrathful 
Sultan  would  stake  everything  on  resistance  to  this  new 
demand.  But  the  counter-movements  of  the  English 
army  soon  brought  him  into  a  calmer  frame  of  mind  ;  and 
on  the  19th  March  his  sons  presented  to  Lord  ComwaUis 
the  ratified  treaty  which  placed  Kiirg,  Dindigal,  Malabar, 
and  the  Baramahal  thenceforth  in  EngUsh  hands.  A  large 
slice  of  Tippu's  northern  frontier  along  the  Tumbadra  was 
shared  between  our  native  allies,  who  also  received  each  a 
miUion  of  the  money  fine  exacted  from  Maisor.  Thus 
hemmed  in  by  strong  neighbours  on  every  side,  the  hum- 
bled son  of  Haidar  Ah  might  chafe  at  the  shattering  of  all 
his  dearest  hopes,  and  brood  over  schemes  of  vengeance 
on  his  English  conquerors.  But  turn  which  way  he  would, 
failure  and  disappointment  were  stiU  to  be  his  lot ;  and 
the  only  light  which  thenceforth  shone  upon  his  darkness 
was  the  baleful  reflection  of  his  own  wounded  pride,  savage 
bigotry,  and  undving  hate. 

The  Maratha  gains  in  Southern  India  were  as  nothing 
to  the  progress  meanwhile  made  by  Mahdaji  Sindia  in  the 
north.  By  the  Treaty  of  Salbai  that  able  and  ambitious 
ruler  had  been  raised  to  the  rank  of  an  independent  sove- 
reign. Already  the  foremost  native  power  in  Hindustan, 
he  was  bent  on  rising  yet  higher,  on  wiping  out  the  last 
traces  of  Maratha  failure  at  Panipat.  His  opportunity 
soon  came.  DehU  was  again  torn  by  rival  factions,  and 
the  leader  of  one  of  them  implored  his  help  in  the  name  of 
his  helpless  sovereign.  Sindia  gladly  accepted  the  offer, 
and  the  death  of  him  who  had  made  it  soon  left  him 
master  of  the  position.  For  the  Peshwa  of  Puna,  as  bead 
of  the  Maratha  League,  he  obtained  from  Shah  Alam  the 
title  of  Regent  of  the  Empire.  As  deputy  for  the  Peshwa, 
he  himself  took  charge  of  the  Imperial  government,  with 
the  supreme  command  of  the  Imperial  armies,  for  whose 
maintenance  the  revenues  of  Agra  and  Dehli  were  en- 
trusted to  his  sole  keeping. 

s 


258  HISTORY    OP   INDIA. 

For  the  next  few  ycaiB  the  bold  Maratha  was  engaged 
in  strengthening  the  foundations  of  his  new  sway.  His 
enemies  around  Dehli  were  neither  few  nor  weak.  The 
proud  Mohammadan  nobles  chafed  under  the  ascendency 
of  an  upstart  Hindu.  The  high-born  princes  of  Riijputana 
begrudged  the  payment  to  a  Sudra  adventurer  of  the  tri- 
bute claimed  for  the  Moghal.  His  rival,  Holkar,  bore  him 
no  good-will,  and  the  Court  of  Piina  dreaded  the  soaring 
ambition  of  their  self-appointed  deputy.  A  powerful 
weapon,  however,  was  already  forging  for  Sindia's  benefit. 
With  the  help  of  Count  de  Boigne,  a  Savoyard  who  had 
lately  entered  his  service,*  ho  got  together  a  disciphned 
force  of  20,000  men,  mostly  infantry,  officered  largely  by 
Europeans,  and  strengthened  by  a  formidable  array  of 
guns.  To  the  sturdy  courage  of  these  troops  and  the 
skill  of  their  leaders  he  owed  his  final  deliverance  from 
more  than  one  perilous  strait.  Defeated  by  the  Rajputs 
and  hard  pressed  by  the  Mohammadans  in  1787,  he  looked 
in  vain  for  help  towards  Pima,  and  was  fain  to  seek 
timely  shelter  with  the  Jat  prince  of  Bhartpiir.  Ere  long, 
the  foolish  old  emperor  himself  took  open  part  against  his 
defeated  minister. 

But  Sindia's  turn  for  triumph  came  at  last.  His  defeat 
of  Ismael  Beg  under  the  walls  of  Agra,  in  June  1788, 
paved  the  way  for  his  return  to  Dehli.  He  was  still 
loitering  on  his  road  thither,  when  he  heard  of  the  horrible 
outi-ages  inflicted  on  the  emperor  and  his  household  by 
the  ruffianly  grandson  of  the  able  and  upright  Najib-ud- 
daula,  who  had  fought  so  bravely  for  the  Moghal  at 
Panipat.  This  RohiUa  savage,  Gholam  Kadir  by  name, 
had  retreated  to  Dehli  in  company  with  Ismael  Beg.  The 
frightened  emperor  closed  the  gates  of  the  city  on  his 

*  This  adventurer,  after  serving  in  the  French  and  Russian  armies, 
became  an  ensign  in  the  6th  Sepoy  Batt;'>lion  at  Madras.  Thence  he 
went  round  to  Calcutta,  was  employed  by  Hastiniis  on  an  emba-sy  to 
Dehli  in  1781,  and  fiually  took  service  under  Jliilidaji  Sindia. 


LORD    CORNWALLIS.  259 

defeated  allies  ;  but  Gholam  Kadir  bribed  his  way  in,  and 
a  Mohammadan  axmy  was  once  more  loosed  for  plunder 
in  the  Mophal  capital.  Disappointed,  it  seems,  of  the 
treasures  he  had  hoped  to  find  within  the  palace,  and 
enraged  beyond  bearing  at  his  repeated  failures  to  seaixh 
out  an  imaginary  secret,  the  pitiless  ruffian  put  the 
Princes  of  Dehli  to  the  torture  in  the  presence  of  the 
emperor  himself.*  In  the  depth  of  his  anguish  the  old 
man  cried  out,  "  Take  my  sight  rather  than  force  upon  it 
scenes  like  these  !  "  In  a  moment,  Gholam  Kiidir  sprang 
upon  his  victim,  pinned  him  to  the  floor,  and  blinded  him 
with  his  own  dagger.  But  his  hour  of  triumph  was  soon 
to  be  cut  short.  On  the  appearance  of  De  Boigne's  bat- 
talions before  Dehli,  he  fled  thence,  after  a  vain  attempt 
to  fire  the  palace.  On  his  subsequent  flight  from  Mirat 
he  fell  into  the  hands  of  Sindia's  horsemen,  and  his  crimes 
were  requited  by  Sindia's  order  with  the  poetic  justice  of 
a  horrible  and  Ungering  death.! 

Thenceforth  the  deputy's  gi'eatness  knew  no  check. 
He  replaced  the  blind  old  emperor  on  the  throne  of  Dehli ; 
but  the  whole  powers  of  government  remained  in  his  own 
hands,  and  Shah  Alam  became  a  mere  pensioner  on 
Sindia's  bounty.  His  old  opponents,  one  after  another, 
took  arms  against  him  only  to  ensure  their  final  defeat. 
Too  wise  to  embroil  himself  in  a  second  war  with  the 
Enghsh,  he  yet  steadily  set  his  face  against  the  policy 
which  led  his  countrymen  in  Southern  India  to  aid  Corn- 
wallis  in  humbhng  Tippu.  At  length,  when  all  was  peace- 
ful in  Hindustan,  Sindia  set  out  for  Piina  in  1792  to  invest 
the  young  Peshwa,  Madhu  Rao,  with  the  dignity  thrice  con- 
ferred on  him  by  the  head  of  the  house  of  Babar.     Such 

*  One  of  the  tortured  princes  lived  to  witness  as  Emperor  the 
massacre  of  English  women  and  children  at  Dehli  in  1857. 

t  Keene's  '*  Moghal  Empire,"  chap.  5.  The  wretched  man  was  first 
led  through  Mattra  on  an  ass,  with  his  face  to  the  tail.  His  tongue 
was  then  torn  out,  his  eyes  blinded,  his  nose,  ears,  hands,  and  feet  cut 
off  ;  after  which  he  was  hanged  upon  a  tree. 

s2 


260  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

at  least  was  the  outward  purpose  of  bis  journey  ;  but  in 
all  likelibood  his  real  aim  was  to  counteract  tbe  intrigues 
of  Nana  Famawis,  and  render  his  own  influence  supremo 
in  Southern  as  well  as  Northern  India. 

Tbe  Pesbwa's  investiture  was  the  most  splendid  cere- 
mony which  Piina  had  ever  seen.  Sindia  himself  rode  up 
on  his  elephant  at  the  head  of  a  gorgeous  retinue ;  but 
with  an  artful  show  of  humihty  he  took  the  lowest  place 
among  the  assembled  chiefs.  When  the  Peshwa  would 
have  placed  him  on  the  seat  next  his  ovm,  he  displayed  a 
pair  of  embroidered  slippers,  in  token  of  tbe  office  he  had 
inherited  from  bis  father,  and  reverently  placed  them  on 
tbe  Peshwa's  feet.  With  well-feigned  reluctance  be  at 
length  took  tbe  seat  of  honour  which  none  there  present 
bad  nearly  so  good  a  right  to  fill. 

From  that  time  bis  Brahman  rival.  Nana  Farnawis, 
began  to  lose  all  hold  on  the  youth  in  whose  name  be  bad 
hitherto  governed  without  a  check.  Another  heavy  defeat 
inflicted  on  Holkar  by  De  Boigne  left  Sindia  virtual  master 
of  nearly  all  India,  outside  tbe  English  possessions  and 
the  few  native  states  which  owned  the  English  for  their 
allies.  In  despair  at  his  own  darkening  prospects  the 
Nana  was  about  to  give  up  the  struggle  by  retiring  to 
Banaras,  when  Sindia's  death  from  fever  in  February, 
1794,  removed  out  of  his  path  tbe  only  danger  he  bad 
hitherto  failed  to  overcome. 

By  this  time  Cornwallis  himself  had  disappeared  from 
the  scene  of  his  past  labours.  But  be  left  behind  him  a 
legacy  whose  value,  however  highly  rated  by  the  statesmen 
of  bis  own  day,  has  long  been  regarded  by  a  lai'ge  class  of 
thinkers  with  loss  approving  ej-es.  If  tbe  boldness  of  bis 
foreign  policy,  in  spite  of  its  success,  brought  him  into 
discredit  with  a  small  but  noisy  class  of  politicians  at 
home,*  his  great  measure  for  settling  the  land  revenues  of 

*  Sii-  Philip  Francis,  Hastings'  old  enemy,  was  at  the  head  of  them. 


LORD    CORNWALLIS. 


261 


Bengal  was  hailed  by  the  bulk  of  his  own  countrymen  with 
a  satisfaction  largely  owing  to  his  well-earned  fame  as  an 


FAMINE-STRICKEN    GROUP    OP    PE.4SAXTS. 


upright,  clear-headed,  successful  governor.     It  is  needless 
here  to  discuss  the  question  whether  private  property  i 
land  was  or  was  not  imknown  to  Indian  usage,  and 


m 
con- 


2G2  HISTORY    OF    INDU. 

trary  to  the  spirit  of  Indian  laws.*  For  the  present  pur- 
pose it  is  enough  to  say,  that  the  rents  from  land  in  India 
had  come  to  be  divided  between  the  village  communities,  the 
Zaminddrs  and  Tdlukdars,  yrho  farmed  the  revenues  of  their 
several  districts,  and  the  State  itself,  which  claimed  from 
one-half  to  three-fifths  of  the  yearly  produce  from  the  soil. 
In  Bengal  the  rights  of  the  old  village  communities  had 
been  swallowed  up  in  the  growing  power  of  the  Zamindars 
or  middlemen,  whom  Hastings  everywhere  found  claiming 
entire  ownership  of  the  land  their  fathers  had  mostly  held 
on  lease.  The  ousted  Rayats  or  husbandmen  had  become 
mere  tenants  at  will  of  the  usurping  Zamindars.  These 
latter  Lord  Cornwallis  had  fi'om  the  first  been  enjoined  to 
treat,  for  fiscal  purposes,  as  the  only  rightful  lords  of  the 
soil. 

Accordingly  in  1789  a  new  assessment  of  the  land- 
revenue  was  carried  out  for  ten  years  on  the  terms  pre- 
scribed by  the  Court  of  Directors.  In  1793  this  settle- 
ment was  declared  perpetual.  In  spite  of  the  reasons 
urged  against  such  a  measure  by  Mr.  Shore,  and  other 
men  of  long  Indian  experience,  it  was  decreed  that  thence- 
forth the  Zamindars  of  Bengal  were  to  hold  their  lands 
for  ever  at  the  rent-rates  charged  upon  them  in  1789. 
Thi-ee  things  were  involved  in  this  momentous  enactment. 
The  Zamindars  were  formally  acknowledged  as  lords  of 
the  soil.  The  rent-charge  on  their  estates  was  fixed  for 
ever  at  a  certain  rate.  And  lastly  the  rate  itself  was  taken  at 
a  fixed  sum  of  money,  without  reference  to  future  changes 
in  the  selling  value  of  land  and  its  yearly  harvests. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  weak  points  of  this  perma- 
nent settlement  lay  chiefly  under  the  first  and  third  heads. 
To  turn  a  body  of  revenue-farmers  into  actual  landownei-s 

*  The  true  theory  seems  to  be  that  private  property  in  land  had 
always  been  the  rule  in  India,  limited  only  by  the  sovereign's  imme- 
morial right  to  a  certain  share  in  the  produce  of  the  soiL  The  whole 
question  is  fairiy  and  clearly  handled  in  "  Notes  on  the  North-Western 
Provinces  of  India,"  by  a  •'  District  Officer  "  (Allen  ii  Co.) 


LORD    CORN'WALLIS.  263 

was  a  measure  which,  however  excusable  and  even  expe- 
dient, was  sure  to  entail  some  hardship  on  the  old  pea- 
santry whose  right  to  hold  their  ancestral  acres  was  now 
swept  away  at  one  blow.  It  is  true  that  some  attempt 
was  made  to  secure  to  the  Rayats  their  ancient  holdings 
by  means  of  leases,  which  the  Zamindiii-s  were  bound  as  a 
rule  to  grant  them  at  the  former  rents.  Other  steps  were 
also  taken  to  guard  their  interests  from  unfair  encroach- 
ments on  the  part  of  their  new  landlords.  But  here,  as  in 
so  many  other  cases,  the  weakest  went  to  the  wall.  The 
new  landowners  abused  their  powers  at  every  turn.  Their 
luckless  tenants  found  their  leases  withheld,  their  rents 
raised  under  any  pretext,  their  goods  hable  to  distraint 
without  any  notice,  and  themselves  gi-ound  do^-n  by  ever 
new  and  illegal  demands.*  To  the  com-ts  of  justice  they 
were  free  to  appeal ;  but  what  justice  could  they  hope  to 
win,  even  if  they  had  the  means  of  seeking  it,  against 
oppressors  powerful  fi'om  their  rank,  wealth,  and  I'eadiness 
to  gain  their  own  ends  by  any  means,  however  crooked  ? 
Every  avenue  to  legal  redress  was  blocked  up  by  pilfering 
poUcemen  and  venal  underlings  of  the  law,  by  whose 
influence  the  eyes  of  well-meaning  English  magistrates 
were  too  often  blinded  to  the  truth. 

The  Zamindars,  on  the  other  hand,  might  plead  some 
excuse  for  wrong-doing  in  the  high  rates  at  which  they  were 
assessed  by  the  government,  and  the  summary  powers  of 
sale  under  which  the  government  demands  were  enforced. 
It  is  certain  that  under  the  new  system  many  of  their 
estates  were  brought  to  the  hammer,  and  that  in  1799 
some  attempt  was  made  to  abate  the  evil  effects  of  sum- 
mary sales,  by  a  rule  which  decreed  that  sales  of  land  for 
arreai's  of  revenue  should  be  deferred  to  the  end  of  each 

*  It  was  not  till  some  years  afterwards  that  the  Zamindar  was 
compelled  to  give  due  notice  of  his  intention  to  distrain,  and  was 
forbidden  to  seize  the  Ra'vat's  cattle  and  farming  tools.  Kaye's  "East 
India  Company,"  part  ii.  chap.  2. 


264  msTORY  OP  india. 

year.  It  was  also  alleged  that  a  defaulting  Eayat  could 
sometimes  evade  the  demands  of  a  needy  or  grasping  land- 
lord more  easily  than  the  latter  could  put  off  his  payments 
to  the  State.  On  the  whole,  however,  it  is  pretty  clear 
that  the  balance  of  wrong-doing,  as  Sir  John  Kaye  puts  it, 
"  must  have  been  greatly  on  the  side  of  the  Zamindar.'' 
He  and  his  agents  were  far  more  likely  to  plunder  and 
oppress  the  Kayat,  than  the  Kayat,  for  all  his  cunning, 
was  likely  to  outwit  them. 

If  undue  haste  was  shown  in  fixing  the  new  settlement 
for  ever,  before  the  question  of  land-tenures  in  Bengal  had 
been  thoroughly  sifted  and  the  value  of  the  land  assessed 
had  been  clearly  ascertained,  it  was  still  more  unfortunate 
that  the  boon  of  a  fixed  assessment  should  have  been 
clogged  by  the  State's  surrender  of  its  prescriptive  right  to 
re-adjust  the  land-tax  to  its  own  fiscal  needs  in  the  future. 
The  main  source  of  revenue  in  India  had  always  been  the 
land.  A  certain  share  of  the  landholder's  yearly  profits, 
whether  payable  in  kind  or  coin,  had  been  taken  by  suc- 
cessive governments,  Hindu  or  Mohammadan,  for  the 
public  use.  According  as  the  land  rose  in  value,  or  the 
purchasing  power  of  money  declined,  the  State  charge  on 
the  land  was  also  raised.  Under  English  rule  payment 
in  kind  had  gradually  been  replaced  by  payment  in  money ; 
but  it  was  left  for  Lord  Cornwallis  to  fix  the  money  pay- 
ment at  a  rate  which  could  never  more  be  raised  or  altered. 
His  successors  were  thus  for  ever  debarred  from  replen- 
ishing the  public  purse  by  adjusting  the  land-tax  to  the 
increasing  profits  of  those  who  paid  it.  Had  the  money 
payments  been  fixed  at  a  given  proportion  to  the  average 
rental  of  the  land  from  time  to  time,  the  land  revenue  of 
Bengal  would  now  have  been  double  what  it  is,  and  the 
government  would  not  be  driven  to  devise  new  and  often 
questionable  means  of  taxation  in  order  to  arrest  the 
gradual  decline  of  its  old  fiscal  resources. 

In  some  respects,  however,  the  new  settlement  worked 


LORD    CORNWAIiLIS.  5*0 

well.  After  a  season  of  dire  confusion  and  distress, 
during  which  many  old  families  passed  away  from  their 
ancient  holdings,  or  tiUed  as  mere  serfs  the  fields  which 
had  once  been  theirs,  while  many  even  of  the  Zamindars 
■were  sold  out  of  the  estates  confen-ed  on  them  by  English 
rulers,  a  new  class  of  landed  gentry,  em'iched  by  trade 
and  money-lending,  rose  upon  the  wrecks  of  their  neigh- 
boui's'  fortunes  into  a  position  of  assured  importance,  if 
not  of  much  political  power.  Waste  lands  were  gi'adually 
brought  under  the  plough ;  the  growing  wealth  of  the 
province  encouraged  the  growth  of  its  population,  and 
opened  out  new  channels  of  trade  and  industry,  as  well  as 
new  sources  of  public  income.  K  the  land-revenue  showed 
no  sensible  increase,  its  collection  at  any  rate  became 
easier  and  the  amount  less  fluctuating.  All  this,  however, 
might  have  happened  under  a  system  of  periodical  settle- 
ments. MeanwhUe,  whoever  else  profited,  the  Eayats 
were  mostly  on  the  losing  side.  Their  rents  were  raised 
without  mercy  by  their  new  masters,  their  old  rights  over- 
ridden without  scruple,  and  new  exactions  levied  on  them 
at  every  turn.* 

Another  important  measure  carried  out  by  Lord  Corn- 
waUis  was  the  reform  of  the  civil  and  criminal  courts. 
The  duties  of  revenue-collector  were  for  the  first  time 
separated  from  those  of  the  civil  judge.  Civil  courts  for 
the  trial  of  native  suits  were  established  in  every  district. 
In  the  criminal  com-ts  of  each  district  the  higher  civil 
judges  held   their  sessions  at  diflerent  places  in  turn.f 

*  "  Not  a  child  can  be  bom,"  wrote  the  Joint  Magistrate  of  Rangpiir 
in  1815,  "not  a  head  religiously  shaved,  not  a  son  man-ied,  not  a 
daughter  given  in  marriage,  not  even  one  of  the  tyrannical  fraternity 
dies,  without  an  immediate  visitation  of  calamity  upon  the  Rayat." 
On  every  such  occasion  the  Zamindar  or  his  agent  levied  a  fresh  tax  on 
the  Eayat's  goods.  (Raikes's  •'  Notes  on  the  North-Western  Provinces 
of  India.") 

t  Mohammadan  law,  tempered  by  English  punishments,  was  still  to 
be  administered  in  Bengal. 


2G6  HISTORY    OF    rSBIA. 

Sir  Elijah  Impey's  Code  of  Regulations  was  re-modelled, 
but  bardly  improved  by  the  addition  of  intricate  rules  and 
idle  formalities.  Yet  more  unfortunate  was  the  ordinance 
which  shut  out  the  natives  of  India  from  all  but  the  lowest 
ranks  in  the  public  service.  The  highest  office  to  which  a 
native  could  thenceforth  aspii-e  was  that  of  a  police 
Darogah  on  twenty-five  rupees  a  month,  or  that  of  a 
Mimsif  or  petty  judge,  who  obtained  only  a  small  per- 
centage on  the  cost  of  civil  suits.  The  good  thus  wrought 
in  one  direction  was  counterbalanced  by  evil  in  another. 
If  a  higher  moral  tone  began  thenceforth  to  prevail 
among  the  English  servants  of  the  Company,  their  native 
underlings  were  driven  to  eke  out  their  scanty  wages  by 
every  form  of  jobbing  and  extortion.  Let  the  English 
magistrate  be  never  so  upright,  he  had  no  means  of  check- 
ing the  corrupt  tendencies  of  ill-paid  subordinates,  who 
abused  to  their  own  profit  the  power  which  many  circum- 
stances combined  to  place  in  their  hands.  Whatever 
good  might  come  of  Enghsh  example  in  high  places,  it 
was  clearly  unwise  to  block  up  all  those  avenues  to  prefer- 
ment by  which  the  ambition  of  the  higher  classes  in  the 
country  had  been  wont  to  seek  its  natural  food. 

Before  leaving  India  Lord  CornwaUis  sailed  for  Madras 
in  order  to  command  the  force  he  had  got  together  for 
the  siege  of  Pondicheri-y,  a  task  imposed  upon  him  by  the 
outbreaking  of  another  war  with  France.  But  the  timely 
siu-render  of  that  place  to  Colonel  Braithwaite  left  him 
free  to  pui'sue  his  voyage  homewards,  in  October,  1793, 
after  a  useful,  fii'm,  and  prosperous  reign  of  seven  years. 
He  was  succeeded  by  Sir  John  Shore,  a  Bengal  civilian  of 
long-standing,  high  character,  and  approved  conversance 
with  revenue  affairs. 


267 


CHAPTER  VI. 

sin    JOHN    SHOEE    AND    MAKQUIS    WELLESLEY 1793-1800. 

The  new  G-OTernor-General  bad  not  long  taken  up  the 
reins  of  empii'e,  when  a  storm  of  war  once  more  burst  upon 
Southern  India.  At  the  death  of  Miihdaji  Sindia  the 
Maratha  power  may  be  said  to  have  reached  its  zenith. 
His  nephew  and  successor,  Daulat  Rao  Sindia,  was  stUl  a 
boy ;  but  Nana  Farnawis  once  more  reigned  at  Piina 
without  a  rival,  and  his  influence  made  itself  felt  from  the 
foot  of  the  Himalayas  to  the  southernmost  bounds  of 
Maharashtra.  Quick  to  avail  himself  of  Sir  John  Shore's 
inaction  in  the  field  of  foreign  pohtics,  he  began  to  make 
threatening  demands  upon  the  Nizam,  who  tm'ned  for  help 
to  the  English  GoTernment  under  the  treaty  of  1790. 
But  Shore  could  see  no  reason  for  helping  one  old  ally 
against  another,  and  the  Marathas  took  their  own  way 
unchecked. 

Early  in  1795  the  hostile  armies  took  the  field.  A 
hundred  and  thii-ty  thousand  Marathas,  gathered  from  all 
parts  of  India,  followed  the  standard  of  the  young  Peshwa, 
himself  under  the  actual  leadership  of  Pareshram  Bhao, 
while  the  Nizam's  forces,  110,000  strong,  included  a  con- 
tingent disciplined  by  French  officers  under  M.  RajTuond, 
who  had  served  with  Lally  many  years  before.  Sindia's 
contingent  on  the  Maratha  side  was  also  commanded  by  a 
Frenchman,  M.  Perron.  The  battle  which  ensued  on  the 
11th  March  at  Kiu-dla,  on  the  Nizam's  western  frontier, 
was  lost  to  the  Mohammadans  mainly  by  the  cowardice  of 
Nizam  Ali  himself.     Two  days  afterwards   the   defeated 


268  HISTOBY    OF   INDIA. 

monarch  put  his  seal  to  a  treaty  which  condemned  him  to 
pay  the  victors  three  millions  sterling  and  yield  up  ter- 
ritory worth  £350,000  a-year. 

The  wUy  minister,  Nana  Famawis,  had  now  reached  the 
height  of  his  power.  Supreme  at  the  court  of  his  nominal 
master,  he  was  held  in  awe  at  every  capital  where  ruled 
a  prince  of  the  great  Maratha  League.  Even  the  young 
Sindia  paid  him  the  deference  due  from  youth  to  a  suc- 
cessful veteran  in  the  field  of  statescraft.  But  the  fate 
which  had  frowned  so  darkly  on  him  a  year  before  the 
victory  of  Kurdla  was  ere  long  to  hold  him  fast  in  its 
toUs.  In  October,  1795,  the  young  Peshwa,  Madhu  Eao, 
slew  himself  in  a  fit  of  despair  at  the  utter  thraldom  in 
which  his  all-powerful  minister  was  bent  on  keeping  him, 
at  an  ago  when  other  princes  were  deemed  fit  to  govern 
for  themselves.  The  rightful  heir  to  his  throne  was  Biiji 
Kao,  son  of  that  Ragoba  whose  chequered  fortunes  had 
closed  in  peace  and  privacy  after  the  Treaty  of  Salbai. 
Distrustful  of  the  Nina's  real  purpose,  Baji  Rao  secretly 
applied  for  help  to  Daulat  Rao  Sindia.  When  this  became 
known  at  Piina,  the  Nana,  who  had  just  been  plotting  on 
behalf  of  Baji's  younger  brother,  Chimnaji,  suddenly  re- 
solved to  forestal  Sindia  by  espousing  the  cause  of  B;iji 
himself.  The  game  of  intrigue  which  followed  has  no 
parallel  even  in  the  history  of  Maratha  politics.  As  a 
thing  of  course  Sindia  and  the  X;ina  take  opposite  sides, 
and  change  them  whenever  it  suits  theu-  pui-pose.  At  one 
moment  the  Nana  is  an  exile  and  Baji  a  prisoner.  Ere 
long  the  former  gains  the  upper  hand,  and  Baji  Rao  is 
seated  on  the  throne,  which  his  brother  had  meanwhile 
occupied  against  his  own  wiU.  Sindia  turns  against  his 
own  nominee,  and  casts  his  own  minister,  BaUoba  Tautia, 
into  prison.  Buji  Rao  then  plots  the  ruin  both  of  Sindia  and 
Nana  Famawis.  The  former  escapes  death  through  Baji's 
timely  indecision,  but  the  latter  is  treacherously  seized 
with  Sindia's  connivance,  and  hurried  off  a  close  prisoner 


SIR    JOHN    SHORE    AND    MAEQUIS    WELLESLEY.  269 

to  Ahmadnagar,  whence  he  is  afterwards  set  free  by  Sindia 
on  payment  of  a  heavy  bribe. 

Meanwhile  Sir  John  Shore  had  been  engaged  in  deahng 
with  a  serious  mutiny  among  the  officers  of  the  Company's 
Indian  army.  The  soreness  caused  by  the  late  im- 
provements in  the  pay  of  the  Civil  Service,  and  by  the 
threatened  amalgamation  of  the  king's  and  Company's 
troops,  spoke  out  at  last  in  a  combined  movement  of  the 
aggrieved  officers  for  their  own  protection  from  alleged 
encroachments  on  their  just  rights.  Daunted  by  the 
growing  danger,  or  loath  to  use  force  against  men  whose 
claims  he  could  not  deem  unjust,  the  Governor- General  gave 
way.  The  double  batta,  which  had  lately  been  withheld 
from  the  Company's  troops,  was  restored  in  full ;  brevet 
rank  was  largely  granted ;  and  an  improved  scale  of  pay 
for  officers  of  every  rank  was  drawn  up.  Shore's  con- 
cessions so  displeased  Dundas,  that  he  besought  Lord 
Cornwalhs  to  return  at  once  to  his  former  post ;  but  the 
"  milk-and-water  "  policy  of  the  Court  of  Directors  towards 
their  mutinous  servants  speedily  decided  him  to  refuse 
the  offer,  and  Sir  John  Shore's  concessions  were  finally 
confirmed. 

K  Sir  John  laid  himself  open  to  the  charge  of  acting 
weakly  on  this  occasion,  a  later  conjuncture  showed  him 
to  be  far  from  wanting  in  quiet  courage.  On  the  death  of 
Asaf-ud-daula,  the  Nawab- Vizier  of  Audh,  in  1797,  he  was 
led  by  faulty  information  to  acknowledge  Wazir  Ali,  the 
Nawab's  reputed  son,  as  his  successor.  But  further  in- 
quiry taught  him  to  uphold  the  stronger  claims  of  Asaf  s 
brother,  Sadat  Ali.  That  prince  was  therefore  raised  to 
the  throne  on  condition  of  surrendering  Allahabad  to  the 
English,  and  maintaining  ten  thousand  of  the  Company's 
troops  in  Audh.  The  treaty  was  concluded  while  Sir 
John  was  yet  encamped  at  Lucknow,  in  imminent  danger 
of  an  attack  at  any  moment  from  the  numerous  and  reck- 
less followers  of  the  prince  he  was  about  to  depose.     But 


270  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

he  held  his  {rroiind  with  quiet  firmness  until  the  troops 
who  were  charfjed  to  escort  the  new  Nawab  arrived  at 
Lucknow.  At  their  appearance  the  followers  of  Wazir 
Ali  dispersed  without  firing  a  shot,  and  in  January,  1798, 
Sadat  Ali  was  proclaimed  Nawab  amidst  the  general  re- 
joicing of  his  new  subjects.  Wazir  Ali  was  pensioned  off 
at  Banaras,  and  Shore,  who  had  just  been  made  Lord 
Teignmouth,  set  sail  for  England  in  March  of  the  same 
year. 

His  successor  was  the  Earl  of  Momington,  elder  brother 
of  the  great  Duke  of  Wellington,  a  Mend  and  follower  of 
Pitt,  a  trained  statesman  from  his  youth  up,  a  ripe  scholar, 
and  for  four  years  a  leading  member  of  the  Board  of 
Control.  In  the  middle  of  May,  1798,  Lord  Momington 
landed  at  Calcutta,  charged  from  home  with  strict  in- 
junctions to  keep  the  peace,  to  abstain  from  meddling  in 
the  aflairs  of  native  states,  and  to  use  aU  lawful  means  of 
replenishing  the  Company's  exchequer.  On  his  way  out, 
however,  he  had  touched  at  the  Cape  ;  and  there  by  a 
happy  chance  he  had  learned,  through  various  channels, 
enough  to  convince  him  that  a  policy  of  peace  and  re- 
trenchment was  far  less  feasible  than  it  seemed  at  home. 
He  had  not  been  three  weeks  in  India  when  the  hour 
for  action  proved  to  be  already  ripe.  In  a  proclamation  ■ 
which  had  found  its  way  to  Calcutta,  General  Malartic, 
Governor  of  the  Mauritius,  announced  that  Tippu  had 
proposed  a  close  alliance  with  the  new  French  Republic 
against  the  English  in  India.  Other  tidings  from  trust- 
worthy sources  strengthened  Lord  Momington's  uewly- 
formed  design  to  forestal  the  plotting  ruler  of  Maisor. 
The  Madras  Government,  unready  as  ever,  was  for  tem- 
porising with  its  former  foe  ;  but  Lord  Momington  would 
take  no  excuses  for  unwise  delay,  and  General  Harris  was 
ordered  to  get  the  Coast  Army,  as  that  of  Madras  was 
called,  ready  for  the  coming  march  on  Seringapatam. 
Meanwhile  the  new   Governor-General    set   himself   to 


SIR    JOHN    SHORE    AND    MARQUIS    WELLESLEY.  271 

■win  the  alliance  or  secure  the  neutrality  of  the  Marathas 
and  the  Nizam.  From  the  Peshwa,  whose  counsels  were 
once  more  guided  by  Nana  Farnawis,  he  got  little  but  fair 
words  and  vague  assurances ;  nor  would  Sindia  pledge 
himself  to  aid  the  Enghsh  against  the  threatened  advance 
from  Kabul  of  Ahmad  Shah's  successor,  Zaman  Shah. 
With  the  Nizam,  on  the  other  hand,  Lord  Momington 
was  more  successful.  By  the  10th  October  a  strong 
brigade  from  Madras  was  encamped  at  Haidarabad,  and  a 
few  days  later  the  whole  of  the  French  officers  in  the 
Nizam's  service  had  gotten  their  dismissal  from  the  Nizam 
himself.  The  twelve  thousand  Sepoys,  whom  M.  Ray- 
mond had  trained  on  the  French  system,  laid  down  their 
arms,  and  the  Nizam  concluded  a  treaty  which  placed  six 
thousand  English  Sepoys  at  his  disposal,  and  made  Eng- 
lish influence  for  ever  dominant  at  Haidarabad. 

Tippu,  on  the  other  hand,  was  steadily  rushing  upon 
his  doom.  To  all  Lord  Mornington's  warnings,  remon- 
strances, demands,  proposals,  he  sent  nothing  but 
evasive  or  misleading  answers,  while  he  was  engaged  in 
sending  messages  for  help  to  Zaman  Shah,  to  the  French 
Government,  and  to  General  Buonaparte,  who  had  already 
landed  in  Egypt.  Neither  Nelson's  great  victory  at 
Aboukir,  nor  the  alliance  of  Turkey  with  England  against 
the  French,  opened  his  eyes  to  the  rock  on  which  his 
consuming  hatred  of  the  English  was  about  to  hurl  him. 
At  last,  by  the  beginning  of  February,  1799,  the  Governor- 
General's  forbearance  could  hold  out  no  longer.  The 
English  army  was  ordered  to  advance.  If  Tippu  were  yet 
willing  to  treat  for  peace,  he  might  send  an  embassy  to 
General  Harris,  who  was  now  on  the  road  to  Seringapatam, 
at  the  head  of  six  thousand  white  troops,  about  fifteen 
thousand  Sepoys,  and  a  hundred  guns,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  twenty  thousand  horse  and  foot  furnished  by  the 
Nizam,  and  commanded  in  part  by  English  officers. 

"  Citizen  Tippu,"  however,  as  his  French  fiiends  from 


272  HISTORY   OF   INDU. 

the  Mauritius  called  him,  would  not  be  warned  in  time. 
With  the  courage  of  his  race  and  the  craft  of  an  old 
soldier,  he  left  part  of  his  army  to  watch  the  English 
advance,  while  he  hurried  westward  with  the  flower  of  his 
troops  to  overwhelm  Stuart  and  Hartley  on  their  advance 
with  the  Bombay  column  from  Kananor.  In  spite  of  the 
timely  warning  received  from  the  Rajah  of  Kiirg,  it  was 
all  that  Hartley's  brigade  could  do  to  hold  the  hill  of 
Sidasir  on  the  6th  March  against  Tippu's  repeated  onsets, 
until  General  Stuart  could  hasten  up  to  the  rescue.  Half- 
an-hour  afterwards  the  assailants  fell  back  with  the  loss 
of  two  thousand  men.  A  few  days  later  the  baffled  Sultan 
went  off  to  meet  General  Harris  advancing  by  way  of 
Bangalor. 

Again  defeated  at  Malavalli  on  the  27th,  Tippu  fell 
back  to  a  strong  position  in  front  of  his  island  capital. 
But  the  English  general  declined  to  fall  into  his  opponent's 
trap.  Instead  of  marching  straight  forward  through  a 
country  laid  waste  by  Tippu's  orders,  General  Harris  led 
his  troops  round  across  the  Kavari  by  a  ford  lower  down 
the  stream.  The  Bombay  column  was  thus  enabled  to  join 
him,  and  the  troops  obtained  supplies  from  fruitful  dis- 
tricts untouched  by  the  ravages  of  war.  Tippu's  rage  at 
being  thus  outwitted  passed  ere  long  into  sheer  despair  as 
the  invaders  slowly  neared  Seringapatam. 

On  the  17th  April  the  siege  began.  Three  days  later 
Tippu  asked  for  tenns.  Two  millions  sterling  and  the 
cession  of  half  his  remaining  dominions  was  the  price 
named.  His  proud  spirit  rose  in  revolt  against  such  an 
issue  to  the  dreams  and  eil'orts  of  many  years.  "  Better," 
he  exclaimed,  "to  die  fighting  than  live  dependent  on  the 
mercy  of  infidels."  On  the  3rd  May  4,400  English 
troops  advanced  under  General  Baird,  a  former  prisoner 
in  Seringapatam,  to  storm  the  city  through  a  breach 
made  by  the  English  guns.  A  short  but  shai-p  struggle 
placed  the  stormers  on  the  top  of  the  breach.     The  two 


Sm   JOHN    SHORE    AND    MARQUIS    WELtESLEY.  273 

columns  then  turned  off  in  opposite  directions,  pushing 
forward  through  every  obstacle  untQ  they  met  again  at  the 
eastern  gateway,  thinned  in  numbers,  but  flushed  with 
entire  success.  The  Sultan's  palace  was  in  their  hands, 
and  his  troops  were  become  a  flying  mob.  But  Tippu 
himself  could  not  be  found.  At  length  from  amidst  a 
gateway  heaped  with  dead  his  lifeless  body  was  dragged 
out  under  the  guidance  of  a  wounded  servant,  and  duly 
recognised  by  one  of  his  chief  officers.  It  was  buried  the 
next  day  with  all  mihtary  and  religious  honours  in  the 
tomb  which  held  the  remains  of  Haidar  Ali.  The  guns 
which  boomed  their  last  tribute  to  the  brave  but  savage 
bigot  who  had  lost  all  that  his  father  had  won,  were 
strangely  echoed  by  the  dreadful  thunder  which  crashed 
that  evening  over  Seringapatam. 

The  loss  of  the  English  in  this  memorable  siege 
amounted  to  1,164  kiUed  or  wounded.  A  vast  store  of 
guns  and  booty  to  the  value  of  a  million  sterhng  fell  into 
the  victors'  hands.  General  Harris  was  raised  to  the 
peerage,  and  Lord  Momington  became  Marquis  WeUesley, 
in  return  for  the  blow  thus  stricken  at  the  fiercest  enemy 
our  ai-ms  had  ever  encountered  in  Southern  India.  Part 
of  Tippu's  conquered  kingdom  was  divided  between  the 
English  and  the  Nizam,  Baji  Rao  having  declined  the 
conditions  on  which  he  also  would  have  received  his  share. 
The  remainder  was  reserved  under  English  commissioners 
for  the  child-heir  of  the  former  Rajah,  whom  Haidar  Ali 
had  dispossessed.  Tippu's  family  were  removed  as  state- 
pensioners  to  Vellor.  Seringapatam  itself  was  placed 
under  the  wise  control  of  Colonel  Ai-thur  WeUesley,  who, 
as  commander  of  the  Nizam's  infantry,  had  borne  a  pro- 
minent part  in  the  siege. 

If  the  timely  triumph  of  our  arms  in  Maisor  had  crushed 
one  foe,  it  deferred  the  day  of  settlement  with  another. 
AVhile  General  Harris  was  besieging  Seringapatam,  Sindia 
and  the  Peshwa  were  plotting  to  aid  Tippu  and  hamper 

T 


274  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

the  English  by  an  inroad  into  the  dominions  of  Nizam 
Ali.  But  the  happy  issue  of  Lord  Wollesley's  vigour  and 
his  General's  soldiership  struck  them  with  alarm,  and  they 
hastened  to  congratulate  the  Governor-General  on  suc- 
cesses which  not  only  deprived  them  of  a  useful  all}',  but 
established  a  closer  union  between  the  Nizam,  their  in- 
tended victim,  and  the  Enghsh,  their  most  dreaded  rivals. 
A  year  after  the  conquest  of  Maisor,  the  Nizam's  immunity 
from  Maratha  aggression  was  finally  assured  by  a  treaty 
which  placed  at  his  disposal  a  strong  Sepoy  contingent, 
commanded  by  English  officers,  in  exchange  for  his  share 
of  the  country  won  from  Tippu  in  the  last  nine  years. 

Another  blow  to  Maratha  influence  had  meanwhile  been 
dealt  by  Lord  Wellesley.  In  1799  the  httle  State  of 
Tanjor,  founded  by  Shahji,  father  of  the  great  Sivaji,  in 
the  middle  of  the  previous  century,  passed  under  English 
rule  with  the  consent  of  its  rightful  Kajah,  who  retained 
the  outward  show  of  a  sovereignty  whose  burdens  were 
transferred  to  his  English  friends.  A  like  course  was 
taken  with  the  little  Mohammadan  State  of  Surat.  This 
was  presently  followed  by  the  absorption  of  the  Carnatic, 
whose  late  Nawab,  the  son  of  our  old  nominee  Moham- 
mad Ah,  had  been  caught  secretly  plotting  with  our  dead- 
liest enemy,  the  late  Sultan  of  Maisor.  His  successor  re- 
fusing the  terms  offered  by  Lord  Wellesley,  a  titular 
Nawab  was  set  up  in  his  cousin's  place  on  a  handsome 
pension,  but  without  a  shadow  of  his  grandfather's  power. 
Strong-handed  measures  these  may  be  called  ;  but  no  one 
■who  has  carefully  read  the  foregoing  narrative  need  shrink 
from  allowing  to  Lord  Wellesley  and  his  masters  at  home 
the  full  benefit  of  the  pleas  on  which  those  measures  were 
carried  out.  Had  English  statesmen  been  less  scrupulous 
the  Carnatic  might  fairly  have  been  absorbed  many  years 
earlier,  whether  as  a  stroke  of  policy  or  an  act  of  justice. 
Our  countrymeji  in  India  had  long  been  drifting  into  a 
position  from  which  they  could  never  with  any  safety  re- 


SIR    JOHN    SHORE    AND    MAEQUIS    WELLESLEY.       ,   275 

cede.  Each  step  forward  in  self-defence  brought  them 
nearer  some  new  danger,  with  which  common  prudence 
forbade  them  to  palter  on  pain  of  losing  the  ground  already 
won.  It  was  Lord  Wellesley's  great  merit,  that,  foresee- 
ing the  danger,  he  at  once  proceeded  to  pluck  from  that 
nettle  the  flower  safety.  Knowing  that  the  last  great 
struggle  with  the  Marathas  must  soon  come,  he  took  care 
that  the  rulers  of  British  India  should  not  be  drawn  into  it 
unprepared  or  haU'-hearted.  With  him  at  any  rate  fore- 
warned was  to  be  forearmed. 


BOOK   V. 
THE   ENGLISH   PARAMOUNT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MAEQVIS    WEIXESLEY TO    1805. 

Not  long  after  the  conquest  of  Maisor  the  peace  of  the 
kingdom  was  for  a  while  disturbed  by  the  movements  of 
Dhimdia  Wagh,  a  Maratha  freebooter,  who,  with  the  help 
of  a  few  thousand  horsemen  recruited  from  Tippu's  army, 
defied  or  baffled  bis  pursuers,  until  Colonel  Wellesley,  in 
September,  1800,  brought  liim  to  bay."  With  the  utter 
rout  of  Dhiindia's  force  and  the  death  of  its  leader  ended 
a  rising  which,  but  for  WeUesley's  unflagging  pursuit, 
might  have  involved  the  Dakhan  in  gi-ave  disorders  at  a 
verv-  critical  time.  Lord  WeUesley's  hands  indeed  were 
just  then  full  of  work.  A  strong  force  of  Europeans  and 
Sepoys  under  General  Baii-d  was  shipped  off  t«  aid  the 
Turks  in  driving  the  French  out  of  Egypt.  Baird's  march 
through  the  Desert  of  Suez  was  a  feat  of  which  any  anny 
might  have  been  proud  ;  and  the  mere  announcement  of 
his  approach  decided  the  French  commander  to  sue  for 
peace.  But  for  the  disloyal  conduct  of  the  English 
Admiral  commanding  in  Eastern  waters,  Wellesley  would 
have  forestalled  the  conquest  of  the  Mauritius  by  nine 
years,  and  most  of  the  losses  inflicted  on  our  shipping  by 
French  privateers  would  thus  have  been  prevented. 


278  HISTORY    OF    IXDU. 

To  counteract  French  intrigues  in  Persia,  and  to  keep 
Zaman  Shah  from  troubling  India,  was  another  scheme  on 
■which  Wellesley  had  set  his  heart.  A  native  Indian 
Wakil,  or  envoy,  had  already  sounded  the  Shah  of  Persia, 
and  sown  dissensions  between  the  Afghan  monarch  and  his 
brother,  which  compelled  the  former  to  retire  across  the 
Indus,  leaving  Labor  and  the  sun'ounding  country  imder 
the  rule  of  his  chosen  lieutenant,  the  gi-eat  Sikh  warrior 
Eanjit  Singh.  In  1800  a  splendid  embassy,  laden  with 
choice  gifts  and  friendly  overtures,  was  led  to  Teheran  by 
Captain  John  Malcolm,  the  young  Sepoy  officer  who  had 
disarmed  the  French  contingent  at  Haidarabad  and  shared 
in  Colonel  Wellesley's  advance  to  Seringapatam.  The 
descendant  of  Nadir  Shah  readUy  agreed  to  befi-iend  the 
English,  commercially  and  politically,  to  the  best  of  his 
power,  to  expel  every  Frenchman  from  Persia,  and  to  aid 
his  new  friends  in  keeping  all  invaders  from  the  north- 
west out  of  Hindustan. 

Lord  Wellesley's  forecasting  statesmanship  had  also 
employed  itself  in  the  direction  of  Audh.  After  half  a 
centuiT  of  vai-ying  fortunes,  the  Sikh  followers  of  Guru 
Govind  had  come  to  sway  a  wide  tract  of  country  from  the 
Indus  eastward  to  the  Sew;ilik  Hills.*  A  Sikh  aUiance 
with  Sindia  against  the  Enghsh  or  the  Mohammadans  was 
once  more  upon  the  cards,  and  the  Governor-General  was 
resolved  to  make  Audli  contribute  its  due  share  to  the 
maintenance  of  English  rule  against  all  assailants.  The 
murder  of  his  agent,  Mr.  CheiTy,  at  Banaras  by  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  pensioned  rebel  Wazir  Ali,  revealed  at  once 
the  poKtical  weakness  of  the  reigning  Nawab  of  Audh,  and 
the  readiness  of  his  subjects  to  invite  help  fi-om  Kabul. 
Wazir  Ali  was  soon  hunted  down,  but  thenceforth  Welles- 
ley  made  up  his  mind  to  place  the  military  defence  of 
Audh  on  a  much  firmer  footing  than  heretofore. 

His  demands  to  this  end — demands  fully  justified  by  the 
*  Cunningham's  "  History  of  the  Sikhs,"  chap.  5. 


MAEQUIS    WELLESLET.  279 

terms  on  which  alone  the  Nawab  held  his  kingdom  as  an 
English  fief — were  parried  for  a  time  by  evasive  ofiers 
and  sounding  remonstrances.  These  in  their  turn  were 
answered  by  a  judicious  mixture  of  threats  and  warnings, 
until,  in  November,  1801,  Sadat  Ali  signed  the  treaty 
which  placed  under  our  absolute  sway  the  districts  of 
Korab,  Allahabad,  Rohilkhand,  Gorakpiir,  and  Azimgarh, 
in  return  for  the  guaranteed  defence  of  his  domiaionsfrom 
foreign  attack.* 

Amidst  the  cares  and  entanglements  of  foreign  politics, 
Wellesley  found  time  for  matters  nearer  home.  His  own 
energy  braced  up  all  around  him  for  the  work  entrusted 
to  their  hands.  His  reforms  in  the  Company's  chief  civil 
and  criminal  courts  followed  the  lines  first  traced  by  War- 
ren Hastings,  and  freed  those  courts  from  their  old  con- 
nection with  the  Calcutta  Council.  His  encouragement  of 
private  trade  between  England  and  India  in  India-built 
ships,  however  gratifying  to  the  English  Ministry  and 
advantageous  to  the  English  nation,  gave  sore  offence  to 
the  Court  of  Directors,  whose  old  dislike  to  "  interlopers  " 
no  arguments  could  overcome.  His  noble  scheme  for  the 
founding  of  a  great  college  in  Calcutta,  at  which  the  young 
"  writers  "  destined  for  the  Indian  CivU  Service  might 
complete  the  training  best  suited  alike  to  Enghsh  gentle- 
men and  to  the  future  rulers  of  a  great  English  dependency, 
was  marred  in  its  working  by  the  same  authorities,  who 
restricted  the  new  college  to  the  teaching  of  the  native 
languages,  and  founded  at  Haileybury  a  separate  college 
for  the  instruction  of  young  men  going  out  as  writers  to 
the  East.  In  his  choice  of  public  servants  for  high  or 
difficult  posts  Lord  Wellesley  found  his  own  eflbrts  for  the 
public  good  continually  thwarted  by  the  jobbery  or  the 
prejudices  of  East  India  Directors  at  home.  Annoyed  at 
all  these  tokens  of  ill-will  or  blindness  on  the  part  of  his 

*  The  Hon.  Henry  Wellesley,  afterwards  Lord  Cowley,  was  em- 
ployed by  his  brother  to  conclude  the  treaty. 


280  nisTonY  OF  india. 

official  employers,  ho  wrote  home  to  resign  his  office  in 
1802.  But  the  Court  of  Directors  were  loath  at  the  last 
moment  to  lose  the  services  of  a  great  and  successful 
ruler,  and  WeUesley  was  entreated  to  stay  out  in  India 
another  year. 

The  answer  reached  him  early  in  1803,  on  the  eve  of  a 
decisive  fight  for  empire  between  the  English  and  the 
Marathas.  After  the  death  of  Nana  Famawis  in  1800, 
the  great  Maratha  power,  which  for  so  many  years  he  had 
striven  to  weld  together  in  the  Peshwa's  name,  began  at 
once  to  break  up  under  influences  always  active  in  Indian 
history.  As  with  the  Greeks  of  old  and  the  Italians  of 
the  Middle  Ages,  so  it  happened  now  with  the  princes  of 
Maharashtra.  The  Sindia  and  the  Holkar  of  that  day — 
the  latter,  Jeswant  Rao,  was  a  bastard  son  of  the  upright 
and  able  Tukaji — brought  great  armies  against  each  other, 
which  were  defeated  each  in  its  turn.  Ere  long  the 
Peshwa,  Baji  Rao,  paid  with  defeat  and  temporary  exile 
the  penalty  of  espousing  the  cause  of  Sindia.  A  rival 
Peshwa  was  set  up  in  his  stead.  In  this  strait  Baji  Rao 
no  longer  rejected  the  English  alliance  on  the  terms 
already  offered  by  Colonel  Close.  By  the  treaty  of  Bassein, 
concluded  in  December,  1802,  he  agreed  to  maintain  an 
English  contingent,  to  assign  for  their  support  the  revenues 
of  certain  districts,  and  to  wage  no  war  nor  advance  any 
claims  on  other  powers  without  leave  from  the  Governor- 
General. 

In  May  of  the  following  year  Baji  Rao  returned  to  Piina 
under  the  escort  of  his  new  aUies.  By  this  well-timed 
stroke  of  policy,  which  made  the  English  paramount  in 
Southern  India,  Lord  Wellesley  strengthened  his  own 
hands  for  the  coming  struggle  with  his  Maratha  neigh- 
bom's.  It  was  not  long  before  the  coUision  came.  Sindia 
had  already  formed  a  league  with  the  Bhosla  Rajah  of 
Berar  against  the  Peshwa.  Holkar  stiU  held  aloof  from 
either  side,  waiting  to  see  how  matters  would  turn  out. 


MABQUIS    WELLESLEY.  281 

But  Smdia"s  tlireatening  movements  and  his  insolent 
answer  to  Colonel  Collins,  the  English  Resident  at  his 
court,  convinced  Wellesley  that  no  more  time  should  be 
lost  in  idle  negotiations.  The  Peshwa  himself,  with  his 
usual  treachery,  was  urging  Sindia  to  move  at  once  upon 
his  capital.  General  Wellesley,  as  great  in  politics  as  in 
war,  made  one  last  appeal  to  the  confederate  chiefs,  but  in 
vain.  At  length,  on  the  3rd  August,  1803,  Collins  tiu-ned 
his  face  from  Sindia's  camp,  and  war  was  formally  de- 
clared. 

The  first  blow  was  struck  by  General  Wellesley  against 
Ahmadnagar,  which  surrendered  on  the  12th  August,  the 
same  day  on  which  General  Lake  laid  siege  to  the  fortress 
of  Aligarh,  on  the  road  from  Agra  to  Dehli.  On  the  23rd 
September  General  Wellesley,  on  his  march  from  Auranga- 
bad,  found  50,000  of  the  enemy  strongly  posted  around 
the  village  of  Assai.  His  own  troops  were  only  about 
4,500  in  all,  but  their  leader  knew  his  men,  and  would 
lose  no  time  in  waiting  for  the  rest  of  his  army.  His 
trained  soldiers  marched  steadily  forward  across  the 
Kaitna  under  a  heavy  fire  from  Sindia's  guns,  overbore  the 
sturdy  resistance  of  Sindia's  best  infantry,  and  carried  all 
before  them  by  dint  of  hard  fighting  and  cool  pluck.  The 
Maratha  hosts  broke  and  fled  in  all  directions,  leaving 
thousands  dead  or  wounded  on  the  field,  and  ninety-eight 
guns  with  much  booty  in  the  victors'  hands.  This  splendid 
victory,  if  bought  at  a  heavy  price  in  killed  and  wounded, 
gave  the  death-blow  to  Sindia's  hopes  in  Southern  India. 

Meanwhile  in  Gujarat  one  strong  place  after  another 
had  fallen  to  our  arms.  In  the  following  month  the  pro- 
vince of  Kattak  on  the  borders  of  Orissa  was  conquered 
from  the  Rajah  of  Berar.  At  the  same  time  the  conqueror 
of  Assai  was  pressing  forward  without  a  check  into  the 
heart  of  the  Rajah's  kingdom.  The  capture  of  Asirgarh  by 
Colonel  Stevenson  had  already  deprived  Sindia  of  his  last 
stronghold  in  Khandesh.     By  the  victoiy  of  Argaum  on  the 


282  mSTOKY   OF   ixdia. 

28tli  November,  and  the  subsequent  capture  of  Gawilgarh, 
General  Wellesley  drove  Raguji  Bhosla  to  sue  for  peace, 
which  he  was  fain  to  purchase  with  the  cession  of  Kattak, 
and  all  Berar  to  the  west  of  the  Wardah  river. 

Lake's  campaign  in  Upper  India  had  been  equally  suc- 
cessful. The  fall  of  AHgarh  on  the  29th  August,  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  feats  in  the  annals  of  war,  was  followed 
up  by  Lake's  victorious  advance  on  Dehli.  Crushing  the 
resistance  of  a  Maratha  force  outside  the  capital,  he 
entered  it  on  the  11th,  took  the  blind  old  emperor  out  of 
his  prison,  and  once  more  placed  him  on  his  nominal 
throne.  On  the  10th  October  the  Marathas  were  heavily 
beaten  near  Agra,  and  the  glorious  city  of  Akbar  and 
Shah  Jahan  surrendered  a  few  days  after  to  its  bold 
assailant.  On  the  1st  November  at  the  village  of  Laswari 
occun-ed  the  hardest  fight  of  the  war.  Lake's  cavalry 
were  hurled  in  vain  against  entrenchments  bristling  thick 
with  guns,  and  defended  by  the  flower  of  Sindia's  army, 
the  trained  battahons  of  De  Boigne.  At  length  his 
infantry,  who  had  been  marching  ever  since  midnight, 
came  upon  the  field,  and  after  a  brief  rest  swept  forward 
on  their  fateful  errand.  Sindia's  soldiers  fought  like 
heroes,  and  feU  in  heaps  around  their  guns.  But  the 
shattered  ranks  of  EngUsbmen  and  Sepoys  still  held  their 
way  under  the  leader  whom  they  loved,  until  the  crowning 
victory  of  the  war  was  theu's,  and  seventy-one  guns  had 
been  counted  among  its  fruits.  Their  own  loss  was 
great ;  but  the  strength  of  SLndia  was  broken,  and  before 
the  year's  end  he  had  concluded  a  treaty  which  shipped 
him  of  all  his  possessions  between  the  Jamna  and  the 
Ganges,  of  nearly  all  his  conquests  in  Rajputana,  of  the 
districts  around  Baroch  and  Ahmadnagar,  and  ^iped  out 
all  his  claims  on  the  Peshwa,  the  Gaikwar  of  Gujarat,  and 
the  Nizam. 

Of  the  provinces  thus  wrested  from  Sindia  and  the 
Bhosla,  Kattak  was  incorporated  with  Bengal ;  the  Doab 


MABQX7IS    WELLESLEY.  283 

between  the  Jamna  and  the  Ganges  became  the  North- 
Western  Provinces ;  and  the  Baroch  district  was  annexed 
to  Bombay.  The  fortress  and  district  of  Ahmadnagar 
were  handed  over  to  the  double-dealing  Peshwa  ;  and  the 
new  Nizam,  who  had  just  mounted  the  throne  of  his  father 
Nizam  Ali,  was  placed  in  possession  of  western  Berar. 
Thus,  in  less  than  five  months,  Wellesley  had  overthrown 
the  fabric  of  Mariitha  power,  and  placed  all  India  from  the 
Satlaj  to  Cape  Comorin  at  the  feet  of  an  English  company 
which  less  than  fifty  years  earher  bad  been  chased  with 
ignominy  out  of  Bengal.  Reheved  by  the  fruits  of  Eng- 
lish valour  fi'om  their  forced  allegiance  to  Maratha  lords, 
the  Jat  and  Eajput  princes  of  Rajputana  were  glad  to  ac- 
cept the  milder  guardianship  of  their  Enghsh  neighbours. 
The  Sikh  chiefs  of  Sirhind  likewise  transferred  their 
allegiance  from  the  Marathas  to  Lord  WeUesley ;  and  the 
Maratha  Gaikwar  of  Gujarat  readily  placed  his  own 
dominions  under  the  partial  control  of  that  power  which 
alone  could  shield  him  from  foreign  attacks. 

It  only  remained  to  deal  with  Holkar,  whose  ambition 
had  been  fed  by  the  plunder  of  Sindia's  territory  during 
the  late  campaign,  and  by  the  possession  of  an  army 
largely  recruited  from  the  troops  of  his  defeated  rival, 
until  he  began  to  talk  of  fighting  Lake  for  the  lordship  of 
Hindustan.  At  length  his  insolence  reached  so  lofty  a 
pitch,  that  Lord  WeUesley  was  driven  to  fight  him  in  self- 
defence.  By  the  middle  of  April,  1804,  the  armies  of 
Lake  and  WeOesley  began  moving  fi-om  opposite  quarters 
against  their  new  foe.  Holkar  at  once  fell  back  from 
Jaipur  across  the  Chambal,  but  the  approach  of  the  rainy 
season  ere  long  sent  Lake  into  cantonments  ;  and  Colonel 
Murray,  who  commanded  the  southern  or  Gujarat  column 
in  the  absence  of  General  Wellesley,  soon  followed  his 
example.  A  few  thousand  of  Lake's  Sepoys  under  Colonel 
Monson  still  kept  the  field.  At  length  that  oflicer's  rash 
advance  into  the  heart  of  Holkar's  country  became  seriously 


284  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

hindered  by  want  of  supplies  and  the  harassing  attacks  of 
Holkar's  numerous  horse.  An  ill-judged  retreat,  con- 
tinued for  nearly  two  months  through  a  flooded  country, 
from  an  enemy  less  to  be  dreaded  for  courage  and  soldier- 
ship than  mere  numbers,  brought  him  back  to  Agra  by 
the  end  of  August  with  a  scanty  remnant  of  his  brave 
Sepoys  ;  their  guns,  baggage,  and  supplies  all  captured  or 
left  behind  them  on  the  road. 

Emboldened  by  this  disaster,  Holkar  sent  his  horsemen 
swarming  across  the  Chambal  up  to  Mattra  and  even  to 
Dehh.  On  the  7th  October  20,000  of  his  best  troops  with 
100  guns  suddenly  appeared  before  that  city,  into  which 
nothing  barred  their  way  but  a  Sepoy  garrison  far  too  small 
for  the  works  they  would  have  to  defend.  But  for  ten  days 
the  brave  Colonel  Ochterlony  held  his  perilous  post,  until 
Lake  himself  came  up  from  Agra  to  his  relief.  Balked  of 
his  prey,  Holkar  turned  off  to  plunder  the  Doab  and  lay 
waste  its  fruitful  fields.  The  English,  however,  kept  him 
moving  at  his  best  pace.  While  Lake  with  his  "  gal- 
loper "  guns  and  light  horse  was  in  full  chase  of  Holkar's 
cavalry.  General  Fraser  on  the  13th  November  came  up 
with  the  enemy's  main  body  drawn  out  under  the  guns  of 
Dhig,  a  fortress  belonging  to  the  revolted  Rajah  of  Bhart- 
pur.  The  rout  of  the  Marathas  and  the  captm-e  of  half 
their  guns  once  more  attested  the  prowess  of  English 
troops  against  formidable  odds,  the  Sepoys  vj-ingwith  the 
famous  70th  Highlanders  in  deeds  of  daring. 

Four  days  later  the  dashing  Lake  burst  upon  Holkar's 
camp  at  Farokabad  on  the  Ganges.  The  surprised 
Maratha  had  barely  time  to  escape  with  a  few  followers, 
while  the  rest  of  his  troops  were  ridden  down  and  scat- 
tered with  heavy  loss.  The  fall  of  Dhig  on  the  23rd 
December  tempted  Lake  to  enter  on  the  siege  of  Bhartpiir 
itself,  where  Holkai-'s  infantry  and  his  Jat  allies  had  re- 
solved to  make  their  last  stand.  But  even  Lake's  heroes 
failed  to  atone  for  the  want  of  heavy  guns   and    skilled 


MARQUIS    WELLESLET. 


285 


engineers.  Four  desperate  assaults,  resulting  in  the  fruit- 
less massacre  of  his  best  troops,  at  length  convinced  him 
that  one  of  the  strongest  fortresses  in  all  India  was  not  to 
be  taken  by  heroism  alone.  By  this  time,  however,  the 
Rajah  of  Bhartpiir  had  grown  weary  of  fighting  for  his 
new  friends.  His  prayer  for  peace  was  granted  on  pay- 
ment of  a  moderate  fine,  and  Lord  Lake- — for  such  he  had 


GATE    OF    FORT    BHAHTPUU. 


now  become — returned  to  his  former  business,  the  pursuit 
of  Holkar. 

For  a  time  it  seemed  as  if  Sindia  also,  in  revenge  for 
the  transfer  of  his  late  capital,  Gwalior,  to  another  chief, 
was  again  to  be  reckoned  among  our  foes.  The  march, 
however,  of  an  English  force  into  Bundalkhand  made  him 
pause  on  the  road  to  ruin ;  and  Lord  Wellesley  was  about 


2flG  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

to  strengthen  his  wiser  leanings  by  the  timely  cession  of 
Gwalior,  when  a  new  Governor-General  landed  at  Fort 
William  on  the  30th  July,  1805 ;  and  "  the  glorious  little 
man,"  who  in  seven  years  had  by  force  of  arms  or  treaties 
placed  all  India  within  the  Satlaj  at  his  feet,  went  home  to 
give  account  of  his  stewardship  to  those  who  had  sent  him 
out.  A  series  of  attacks  in  Parliament  and  a  vote  of  censure 
from  the  Company  whose  possessions  he  had  doubled, 
whose  power  he  had  raised  to  the  highest  pitch,  were  the 
immediate  rewards  of  a  career  as  statesmanlike  as  that  of 
Hastings,  as  all-subduing  as  that  of  Lord  Dalhousie. 
The  attacks  in  Parliament  were  merited  and  signal  failures, 
but  it  took  the  Company  thirty  years  to  discover  their 
mistake,  and  to  cancel  the  outrageous  verdict  of  1807  by 
voting  a  statue  and  a  grant  of  £20,000  to  the  great  man, 
whose  "  ardent  zeal  to  promote  the  well-being  of  India, 
and  to  uphold  the  interest  and  honour  of  the  British 
empire,"  ought  to  have  been  acknowledged  many  years 
before. 


287 


CHAPTER  n. 

LORD    CORNWALLIS    AND    LOBD    MINTO 1805-1813. 

At  the  urgent  prayer  of  the  India  House,  Lord  Com- 
wallis  resumed  his  former  post  with  the  avowed  intention 
of  turning  back  upon  the  footsteps  of  his  bolder  prede- 
cessor. The  prevailing  "  frenzy  of  conquest  "  had  to  be 
subdued,  the  Company's  treasury  to  be  saved  from  utter 
exhaustion.  But  the  climate  of  Bengal  played  havoc  with 
the  old  man's  weakened  frame ;  and  he  died  in  October, 
leaving  Sir  George  Barlow,  the  senior  member  of  his 
council,  to  carry  on  the  mistimed  and  unseemly  task  of 
unpicking  the  web  so  carefully  woven  by  Lord  Wellesley. 
A  pohcy  of  wanton  self-repression,  of  cowardly  retreat 
from  fancied  dangers  and  real  responsibilities,  took  the 
place  of  that  bolder,  wiser,  more  merciful  system,  by  which 
Wellesley  had  striven  to  raise  up  in  Lidia  a  power  strong 
enough  to  keep  the  peace  among  its  turbulent  neighbours, 
and  to  rescue  vast  tracts  of  country  from  the  miseries  of 
chronic  strife. 

A  fresh  treaty  concluded  with  Sindia  in  November  not 
only  yielded  everything  he  had  asked  for,  but  released  him 
in  part  from  the  restraints  imposed  by  that  of  Arjangaum. 
Jeswant  Kao  Holkar,  whom  the  unflagging  Lake  had 
chased  across  the  Satlaj,  was  glad  to  make  peace  on  any 
terms  with  his  pursuers  ;  but  even  the  mild  conditions 
granted  by  Lord  Lake  were  yet  further  tempered  by  Sir 
George  Barlow,  who  gave  Rampiir  back  to  Holkar  and 
left  the  hapless  Rajah  of  Bhiindi  to  his  fate.  In  the  same 
spirit  our  good  friend  the  Rajah  of  Jaipiir,  in   spite  of 


288  HISTORY    OF    IXDU. 

pledges  received  from  Lake  and  Comwallis,  was  aban- 
doned to  the  ruthless  inroads  of  the  Maratha  chief  whose 
final  overthrow  he  had  helped  to  hasten.  It  was  a  sore 
trial  for  the  conqueror  of  Jeswant  Rao  to  bear  the  npbraid- 
ings  and  disregard  the  prayers  of  the  Eajah's  envoy ;  but 
his  orders  were  too.  clear,  and  all  that  he  could  do  to  show 
his  indignation  he  did,  by  resigning  his  civil  powers  into 
the  hands  of  the  Governor-General. 

The  fruits  of  this  retrograde  policy  were  not  long  in 
showing  themselves.  No  sooner  had  Lord  Lake  turned 
his  back  on  the  Panjab  than  Holkar  resumed  his  plun- 
dering habits  at  the  expense  ahke  of  friend  and  foe.  His 
bands  of  freebooters  swept  the  country  clean  from  the 
Beyas  to  the  Jamna.  Hariana  was  laid  waste.  From  the 
helpless  Rajah  of  Jaipur  he  extorted  large  sums  of  money  ; 
and  the  Rajah  of  Bhimdi  had  cause  to  rue  the  day  when 
he  held  out  to  Monson's  soldiers  a  helping  hand  against 
their  ravenous  pursuers.  Rajputana  itself  was  ere  long 
torn  to  pieces  by  intestine  strife,  and  the  ruin  caused  by 
the  quarrels  of  Rajput  princes  was  completed  by  the  ruth- 
less raids  of  Sindia's  Marathas  and  Amir  Khan's  Pathans, 
whose  progi'ess  was  everywhere  marked  by  blazing  villages 
and  wasted  fields.  In  the  midst  of  a  career  of  boundless 
rapine  and  wanton  bloodshed  Holkar  fortunately  went 
ra\-ing  mad  from  drink,  and  his  death  in  1811  relieved 
Central  India  of  one  of  the  worst  scourges  which  his 
country  had  ever  produced. 

Even  the  Peshwa  began  to  kick  against  the  barriers  set 
to  his  ambition  by  the  treaty  of  Bassein.  The  demand 
for  chauth  was  heard  again  from  Puna,  and  Baji  Rao 
claimed  his  share  of  the  spoils  which  Sindia  and  Holkar 
were  carrying  off  from  the  plundered  princes  and  peoples 
of  Rajputana.  The  Nizam  also,  who  had  succeeded  his 
father,  Nizam  Ali,  in  1803,  was  already  intriguing  with 
the  Maratha  princes  against  the  power  to  which  he  owed 
his  throne.     But  there  was  a  point  in  his  policy  of  for- 


LOBO    CORNWALLIS    AND    LORD    JJlNrO.  289 

bearance  beyond  which  even  Sii-  G.  Barlow  would  not 
go.  Both  the  Nizam  and  the  Peshwa  were  compelled  to 
retrace  their  steps,  and  to  learn  that  the  bolder  spirit  of 
Lord  Wellesley  had  not  quite  departed  from  the  counBels 
of  his  successor. 

Meanwhile  a  new  and  unforeseen  danger  threatened  the 
government  of  Madras.     With  more  than  the  usual  folly 
of  military  martinets,   Sir  John  Cradock  issued  a  set  of 
orders  regarding  uniform,*  which  the   Sepoys  of  Madras 
read   as  a  wilful  attempt  to  tamper  with  the  creed  and 
customs  of  their  race.     It  was  about  the  time  when  the 
first  English  missionaries  had  entered  in  Bengal  on  the 
work  which  St.  Francis  Xavier  had  begun,   and  the  Pro- 
testant  Swartz,    after    a  long  interval,  had  continued   in 
Southern  India.     The  Company's  servants  looked  on  the 
new  movement  with  natural  dread,  as  a  likely  danger  to  the 
public  peace  ;  and  the  labours  of  Carey,  "Ward,  and  Marsh- 
man  had  to  be  carried  on  from  the  Danish  settlement  of 
Serampur   on  the  Hiighli.     Idle  or  evil  tongues  thereupon 
spread  through  Southern  India  the  report  of  a  set  design 
on  the  part  of  the  EngUsh  against  the  creeds  and  customs 
of  their  native  subjects.     The  spirit  of  distrust   and   dis- 
affection thus  engendered  among  the  Sepoys  was  carefully 
fomented  by  the  Mohammadans  in  Vellor,  where  Tippu's 
family  were  allowed  to  dwell  at  no  great  distance  from  the 
Maisor  frontier.     One  of  the  Sepoy  regiments  in  that  for- 
tress had  been  largely  recruited  from  the  ranks  of  Tippu's 
own  army. 

In  the  early  morning  of  the  10th  July,  1806,  the  two 
native  regiments  at  Vellor  rose  in  sudden  mutiny,  attacked 
the  European  barracks,  where  some  370  men  of  the  69th 
Foot  were  yet  sleeping,  poured  volley  after  volley  into  their 
helpless  victims,  and  shot  down  thirteen  officers  coming 

*  The  Sepoys  were  forbidden  to  wear  earrings  on  parade,  and  were 
ordered  to  shave  their  chins,  and  exchange  their  turbans  for  a  kind  of 
shako. 

U 


290  HISTORY    OF   INDIA. 

out  of  their  rooms.  Happily  for  the  survivors,  help  was 
soon  to  reach  them  in  their  desperate  need  from  the  gar- 
rison of  Arkot,  eight  miles  off.  At  the  head  of  a  squadron 
of  his  19th  Dragoons  and  a  few  galloper  guns,  Colonel 
Gillespie  rode  at  his  best  pace  to  the  scene  of  massacre, 
blew  open  the  gate  of  the  fortress,  and  with  the  help  of 
those  inside  dealt  heavy  destruction  on  the  mutineers, 
hundreds  of  whom  were  shot,  sabred,  or  taken  prisoners. 
Of  the  69th,  however,  ninety-five  men  and  officers  lay 
dead,  and  ninety-one  wounded.  Lord  WiUiam  Bentinck, 
Governor  of  Madras,  was  summarily  ordered  home  with- 
out a  hearing,  as  an  abettor  of  Sir  J.  Cradock  in  the 
measures  which  directly  provoked  so  dire  a  disaster ;  and 
the  Maisor  princes  incurred  no  other  penalty  for  their  mis- 
chievous intrigues  than  a  compulsory  change  of  abode  to 
Calcutta. 

In  the  following  July  Lord  Minto,  a  statesman  of  some 
promise  and  of  twelve  months'  special  experience  at  the 
Board  of  Control,  took  his  seat  as  Governor- General  in 
the  room  of  Barlow,  transferred  to  Madras.  Enjoined  to 
uphold  the  policy  of  peaceful  isolation,  he  soon  found 
cause  to  unlearn  the  lessons  dinned  into  his  ears  at  home. 
The  great  Sikh  leader,  Ranjit  Singh,  was  already  seeking 
to  extend  his  strong  sway  over  the  independent  Sikh  and 
Mussulman  princes  of  Sirhind.  Twice  within  as  many  years 
he  had  crossed  the  Satlaj  in  furtherance  of  his  ambitious 
schemes.  But  at  length  the  boldness  of  his  movements 
and  the  prayers  of  his  intended  victims  for  English  aid 
decided  Lord  Slinto  to  enforce  the  powers  ascribed  to  him 
by  the  suppliant  chiefs  themselves.  To  this  course  he 
was  all  the  more  strongly  impelled  by  Buonaparte's  bril- 
liant successes  in  Europe,  and  the  peace  he  had  just  con- 
cluded with  tlie  Russian  Emperor.  Mr.  Charles  Metcalfe, 
one  of  Lord  Wellesley's  ablest  pupils,  was  sent  to  talk  over 
matters  with  the  bold  but  clear-headed  ruler  of  the  Panjab; 
and  when  Ranjit  Singh  would  have  shaken  himself  free 


LORD    COSNWALLIS    AND    LORD    MINTO.  291 

from  English  dictation  by  another  raid  across  the  Satlaj, 
Colonel  Ochterlony  marched  to  the  protection  of  the 
Sirhind  chiefs.  Thanks  to  this  movement  and  Metcalfe's 
patient  firmness,  a  treaty  was  concluded  in  Apiil,  1809, 
by  which  Ranjit  Singh  withdrew  all  claims  to  sovereignty 
over  the  Sikhs  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Satlaj.  At  the 
same  time  the  outposts  of  his  new  allies  were  advanced 
fi-om  the  Jamna  to  the  borders  of  the  Panjab. 

Other  missions  were  despatched  about  this  time  to  the 
Shah  of  Persia  and  to  Shah  Shuja,  brother  and  successor 
to  Zaman  Shah  of  Kabul.  The  latter  came  to  nothing  by 
reason  of  the  Afghan  monarch's  flight  from  before  the  arms 
of  his  victorious  brother.*  Colonel  Malcolm's  second 
mission  to  Teheran  for  the  purpose  of  thwarting  French 
intrigues  was  forestalled  by  that  of  Sir  Harford  Jones, 
sent  out  direct  from  England.  The  Shah,  however,  greeted 
Malcolm  as  an  old  friend,  and  the  rival  envoys  had  become 
rivals  only  for  the  common  good,  when  a  new  ambassador 
was  sent  out  from  England  to  supersede  them  both. 

Meanwhile  Lord  Minto  had  put  forth  a  hand  of  power  to 
save  the  Rajah  of  Berar  from  the  at^tacks  of  the  turbulent 
RohiUa  chieftain  Amir  Khan,  who,  in  Holkar's  name,  had 
led  out  a  host  of  armed  freebooters  to  spread  havoc 
through  the  fairest  provinces  of  Central  India.  The 
invader  was  driven  back  to  Indor,  and  his  own  capital 
occupied  by  Colonel  Close.  But  either  from  misplaced 
lenity  or  undue  deference  to  the  supposed  desires  of  the 
India  House,  Lord  Minto  withdrew  his  troops  from  the 
conquered  country,  and  the  work  which  he  had  well-nigh 
completed  had  to  be  taken  up  afresh  on  a  larger  scale  by 
his  successor. 

In  the  same  year,  1809,  a  vigorous  onslaught  was  made 

on  the  plague  of  piracy  in  Eastern  waters.     The  chiefs  of 

Kolapur   and  Sawantwari  were  forced  to  surrender  their 

*  The    Hon.    Monntstuart    Elphinstone,    afterwards  Governor   of 
Bombay,  was  at  the  bead  of  this  mission. 

u2 


292  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

ports  on  the  Malabar  coast,  whence  pirate  vessels  had  long 
been  wont  to  prey  upon  the  smaller  trading  craft  that 
passed  within  their  reach.  In  the  Persian  Gulf,  where 
swarmed  the  Arab  pirates  who  had  lately  murdered  the 
crew  of  an  Enghsh  merchant  ship,  a  British  force  from 
Bombay  beat  up  their  chief  haunts,  burnt  their  vessels, 
and  stormed  the  great  pirate  stronghold  of  Kas-al-khaima. 

A  like  success  rewarded  Lord  Minto's  efforts  to  protect 
English  trade  from  the  French  privateers  in  Eastern 
waters.  The  island  of  Bourbon  was  captured  with  little 
loss  in  1810,  and  before  the  year's  end  the  Mauritius  also, 
after  a  brief  struggle,  submitted  to  our  arms.  The  turn 
of  Java  came  nest.  Its  Dutch  possessors,  aided  by  their 
French  allies,  made  a  gallant  defence ;  but  Gillespie's 
timely  daring  and  the  strength  of  the  army  led  by  Sir 
Samuel  Achmuty  soon  overcame  their  resistance,  and 
Java  for  a  few  years  passed  under  the  Company's  rule.* 

Meanwhile  Sir  George  Barlow's  government  had  been 
harassed  by  an  outbreak  in  Travankor  and  a  serious  mutiny 
among  its  own  officers.  The  former  was  suppressed  in  the 
beginning  of  1809,  and  the  country  placed  under  English 
management.  The  mutiny,  which  had  been  provoked  by 
the  Madras  governor's  headlong  zeal  in  a  good  cause,  and 
fanned  by  his  ill-timed  severity,  blazed  up  to  such  a 
height  that  the  officers  at  Seringapatam  turned  their  guns 
on  the  troops  sent  against  them.  At  last,  however,  the 
mutineers  returned  to  their  senses.  A  few  of  the  ring- 
leaders were  cashiered  or  dismissed,  and  the  . remainder 
were  glad  to  sign  a  pledge  binding  them  to  obey  and 
support  the  government  of  Madi-as.  Sir  George  Barlow 
was  recalled. 

Not  long  after  the  conquest  of  Java,  Lord  Minto  found 

himself  confronted  by  a  new  foe.     For  some   time    past 

the  Pindaris,  a  vast  brotherhood  of  mounted  freebooters, 

who  were  ready  to  fight  under  any  standard  for  the  chance 

*  Sir  Stamford  Raffles  was  appointed  GkJvernor. 


LOBD  COKNWALLIS  AND  LORD  MINTO.        293 

of  nnbounded  plunder,  had  been  playing  a  more  and  more 
prominent  part  in  the  wars  of  native  princes.  As  Free 
Lances,  they  had  fought  for  the  Peshwa  at  Panipat,  had 
shared  in  the  frequent  struggles  of  the  Sindias  and  Holkars 
in  Hindustan  and  Southern  India,  and  made  war  on  their 
own  account  with  every  native  prince  whose  weakness  at 
any  moment  seemed  to  invite  attack.  Daulat  Rao  Sindia 
himself  was  fain  to  pui'chase  immunity  from  their  plun- 
dering raids  by  the  cession  of  several  districts  to  one  of 
their  most  daring  leaders,  Chitu,  a  Jat  by  birth,  and  a 
robber  from  his  earhest  childhood.  Another  chief,  the 
RohUIa  Kharim  Khan,  had  become  a  terrible  thorn  in 
Sindia's  side  before  that  potentate  could  succeed  in  crip- 
pling him.  Amir  Khan  himself  was  in  league  with  the 
Pindaris,  by  whose  help  he  had  risen  to  power.  From  the 
hills  and  glens  of  Central  India  thousands  of  armed  ruf- 
fians sallied  forth  year  after  year  in  quest  of  plunder, 
sparing  no  cruelty  to  gain  their  ends,  and  widening  the 
circle  of  their  ravages  with  each  new  raid,  until  in  1811 
the  smoke  of  their  camp-fires  could  be  seen  from  Gaya 
and  Mirzapiir. 

Had  Lord  Minto  deemed  himself  free  to  act  as  he  chose, 
this  last  outrage  would  have  been  speedily  avenged.  But 
his  hands  were  tied  by  the  Court  of  Directors,  and  while 
he  was  waiting  for  leave  to  punish  the  Pindaris  according  to 
their  deserts,  the  order  for  his  recall — a  measure  forced 
upon  the  India  House  by  the  Prince  Regent — was  aheady 
on  its  way  to  Calcutta.  In  October,  1813,  he  set  sail  for 
England,  to  enjoy  the  earldom  which  he  had  faii-ly  earned  ; 
and  the  Eai-1  of  Moira  went  out  as  Governor-General  in 
his  stead. 

In  the  course  of  the  same  year  the  question  of  renewing 
the  Company's  charter,  under  fresh  conditions,  for  another 
twenty  years  provoked  some  warm  debates  in  Parliament. 
In  vain  did  the  Company  and  their  friends  plead  for  the 
maintenance  of  all  the  privileges  secured  to  the  former  in 


294  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

1793.  Against  them  were  arrayed  the  whole  strength  of 
Lord  Castlereagh's  ministry  and  the  growing  influence  of 
the  trading  classes  throughout  the  country.  The  trade 
with  India  was  thrown  open  to  all  Englishmen  alike  ;  but 
the  Company  were  allowed  for  twenty  years  longer  to  keep 
in  their  own  hands  the  sole  right  of  trade  with  China. 
An  EngUsh  bishop  was  appointed  to  the  new-made  see  of 
Calcutta.  In  respect,  however,  of  their  political  power, 
the  Company  escaped  the  doom  which  some  of  the  leading 
statesmen  in  England  would  have  enforced  against  them 
even  then. 


293 


CHAPTER  III. 

MABQTJIS    OF    HASTINGS 1813-1823. 

The  peace  which  Lord  Minto  had  left  behind  him  was  not 
to  remain  long  unbroken.  Among  the  legacies  bequeathed 
to  his  successor  was  a  deepening  quarrel  with  the  Gurkha 
rulers  of  Nipal,  a  long  tract  of  Himalayan  upland  over- 
looking the  fertile  plains  and  forests  of  Audh.  In  the 
course  of  four  centuries  the  Rajput  settlers  in  Nipal  had 
brought  under  their  sway  the  old  Mongol  dwellers  Ln  the 
hills,  and  out  of  their  several  conquests  arose  one  Gurkha 
kingdom,  whose  power  in  the  nineteenth  century  was  felt 
from  the  highlands  of  Bhotan  to  the  banks  of  the  Upper 
Satlaj.  For  some  years  past  the  Gurkhas  had  carried 
their  inroads  across  the  Audh  frontier,  even  at  last  into 
the  districts  which  the  Nawab  had  ceded  to  Lord  Wel- 
lesley.  Lord  Minto's  demands  for  restitution  of  the  con- 
quered vUlages  had  been  treated  with  contempt,  and  when 
Lord  Moira  reached  Calcutta,  the  quarrel  was  already 
swollen  to  a  dangerous  head. 

He  renewed  the  former  demand  in  terms  whose  meaning 
could  not  be  mistaken.  A  murderous  attack  on  the  pohce 
at  Botwal,  in  Ghorakpur,  was  the  only  yet  decisive  answer 
from  Khatmandii.  In  the  autumn  of  1814  a  strong 
British  force,  in  four  columns,  marched  on  as  many  points 
of  the  Nipalese  frontier.  The  campaign,  which  had  been 
skilfully  planned,  was  to  be  cruelly  blundered  in  the  pro- 
secution. Gillespie's  headlong  valour  before  the  hill-fort 
of  Kalanga  cost  him  his  life,  and  involved  his  troops  in 
heavy  losses.     Not  till  after  a  second  assault,  attended 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 


with  issues  yet  more  fatal,  did  the  remnant  of  the  Gurkha 
garrison  make  their  escape  from  a  post  no  longer  tenahle. 
Gillespie's  successor  wasted  months  in  blockading  another 
fort,  which  a  little  more  energy  would  have  placed  much 
earlier  in  his  hands.  General  Wood  and  General  Marley 
vied  with  each  other  in  losing  great  opportunities  and 
throwing  discredit  upon  the  British  name.  But  for 
Ochterlony's  successful  advance  from  Ambala  into  the 
troubled  sea  of  green  hiUs  about  Simla,  and  his  brilliant 
capture  of  Malaun,  on  the  Upper  Satlaj,  from  the  ablest 
of  the  Gurkha  leaders,  Amar  Singh,  this  first  campaign 
against  a  foe  weak  in  numbers,  but  strong  in  native  cou- 
rage and  natural  resources,  would  have  ended  in  utter 
failure,  if  not  in  something  worse. 

The  capture  of  Malaun,  however,  following  on  Colonel 
Gardiner's  successes  in  Almora,  changed  the  face  of 
affairs,  not  only  in  Nipal,  but  all  over  India.  The  native 
princes,  who  were  aU  but  ready  for  one  more  struggle 
against  the  Enghsh  power,  drew  back  at  the  last  moment 
from  a  course  so  dangerous  to  themselves ;  and  the 
Gurkha  Rajah  of  Nipal  was  about  to  make  peace  with 
Lord  Moira,  when  the  fiery  Amar  Singh  persuaded  him  to 
renew  the  war.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  he  had 
reason  to  repent  his  rashness.  Early  in  1816,  Sir  David 
Ochterlony,  who  had  just  gained  his  knighthood,  marched 
at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army  on  Khatmandii.  After  a 
brief  but  vain  resistance,  the  Gurkha  Government  saved 
their  capital  by  signing  a  treaty  which  stripped  them  of 
nearly  aO  their  lowland  possessions,  turned  Kamaun  into 
an  English  province,  and  placed  an  English  Resident,  for 
the  first  time,  at  the  Nipalese  court.  For  his  successful 
conduct  of  the  war  Lord  Moira  was  created  Marquis  of 
Hastings. 

To  thwart  Maratha  intrigues  and  punish  Pindari  aggres- 
sions was  the  Governor-General's  next  aim.  In  spite  of 
hindrances  offered  by  his  own  council  and  the  Court  of 


MAEQUIS    OF    HASTINGS.  297 

Directors,  he  set  himself  to  revive  and  extend  Lord  Wel- 
lesley's  policy  of  securing  peace  and  order  throughont 
India  by  means  of  treaties,  which  placed  one  native  prince 
after  another  in  a  kind  of  vassalage  to  the  paramount 
power  that  ruled  from  Fort  WUliam.  The  Pathan  ruler 
of  Bhopal,  in  Miilwa,  claimed  and  received  the  formal 
protection  of  a  power  to  which  his  successors  have  proved 
their  loyalty  under  every  trial.  In  1816,  Appa  Sahib,  the 
Regent  of  Berir,  agreed  to  maintain  a  British  contingent 
at  his  own  cost.  By  means  of  a  httle  timely  compulsion, 
the  able  and  accomplished  Elphinstone  baffled  for  a  while 
the  plots  which  the  Peshwa,  Baji  Rao,  and  his  villainous 
accompUce,  Trimbakji  Dangha,  had  woven  against  their 
English  aUies.  The  treaty  of  June,  1817,  left  Lord  Has- 
tings master  of  Sagar  and  Bundalkhand,  while  it  bound 
the  Peshwa  to  renounce  his  friend  Trimbakji,  his  own 
claims  to  the  headship  of  the  ilaratha  League,  to  make  no 
treaties  with  any  other  native  prince,  and  to  accept  in  all 
things  the  counsel  and  control  of  the  Company's  Govern- 
ment. Hard  as  these  terms  may  seem,  there  was  no 
choice,  averred  Lord  Hastings,  between  thus  crippling  a 
secret  foe  and  depriving  him  of  the  cro^NTi  he  had  fairly 
forfeited. 

Meanwhile  Lord  Hastings'  fearless  energy  had  already 
saved  the  Rajputs  of  Jaipiir  from  further  sufterLng  at  the 
hands  of  their  Pathan  oppressor.  Amir  Khan,  and  forced 
from  Sindia  himself  a  reluctant  promise  to  aid  in  suppres- 
sing the  Pindari  hordes,  whose  fearful  ravages  had  at 
length  been  felt  by  the  peaceful  villagers  in  the  Northern 
Sarkars.  In  the  autumn  of  1817  Hastings  took  the 
field  at  the  head  of  an  army  which,  counting  native  con- 
tingents, mustered  nearly  120,000  strong,  with  some 
300  guns.  From  east,  west,  north,  and  south,  a  dozen 
columns  set  forth  to  hunt  down  the  merciless  ruffians  who 
had  so  long  been  allowed  to  harry  the  fairest  provinces  of 
India.     In  spite  of  the  havoc  wrought  among  our  troops 


298  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

by  the  great  cholera  outbreak  of  that  year,  and  of  a  sudden 
rising  among  the  Marutha  princes  for  one  last  struggle 
with  their  former  conquerors,  our  arms  were  everywhere 
successful  against  Marathas  and  Pindiiris  alike.  The 
latter,  hunted  into  the  hills  and  jungles  of  Central  India, 
found  no  safety  anywhere  except  in  small  bodies  and  con- 
stant flight.  Chitu,  one  of  their  boldest  leaders,  was 
chased  from  Rajputana  into  Gujarat,  from  Gujarat  into 
Malwa,  where  for  several  months  he  roamed  fhrough  the 
dense  jungles  with  hardly  a  companion,  until  one  day  his 
body  was  found  half-eaten  by  tigers  in  the  heart  of  the 
Satpiira  Hills.  The  other  leaders  were  all  slain  or  cap- 
tui'ed,  their  followers  dispersed,  and  the  famous  robber- 
league  passed  into  a  tale  of  yore. 

Not  less  swift  and  sure  was  the  punishment  dealt  upon 
the  Maratha  leaders  who  joined  the  Peshwa  in  his  sudden 
uprising  against  the  British  power.  His  late  submission 
had  been  nothing  but  a  mask  for  renewed  plottings. 
Elphinstone,  however,  saw  through  the  mask  which  had 
taken  in  the  confiding  Malcolm.  Before  the  end  of 
October  an  EngUsh  regiment,  summoned  in  hot  haste  from 
Bombay,  pitched  its  camp  at  Kirki,  about  two  miles  from 
Piina,  beside  the  small  Sepoy  brigade  already  quartered 
there.  In  the  first  days  of  November  Baji  Rao  began  to 
assume  a  bolder  tone  as  his  plans  grew  ripe  for  instant 
execution.  On  the  5th,  a  body  of  Marathas  attacked  and 
destroyed  the  Residency,  which  Elphinstone  had  quitted 
in  the  nick  of  time.  A  great  Maratha  army  then  marched 
forth  to  overwhelm  the  little  garrison  at  Eirki,  before  fresh 
troops  could  come  up  to  its  aid  from  Siriir.  Elphinstone, 
however,  who  knew  his  foe,  had  no  idea  of  awaiting  the 
attack.  Colonel  Burr  at  once  led  out  his  men,  not  3,000 
all  told.  A  brilliant  charge  of  Maratha  horse  was  heavily 
repulsed  by  a  Sepoy  regiment,  and  the  English  steadily 
advancing  drove  the  enemy  from  the  field. 

A  few  days  later  General  Smith,  at  the  head  of  a  larger 


MAKQUIS    OF    HASTINGS.  299 

force,  advanced  on  Pima,  occupied  tlie  city,  and  pursued 
the  frightened  Peshwa  from  place  to  place.  The  heroic 
defence  of  Karigaum,  a  small  village  on  the  Bhima,  by 
Captain  Staunton  and  800  Sepoys,  with  only  two  light 
guns,  against  25,000  ITai-athas  during  a  whole  day,  proved 
once  more  how  nobly  native  troops  could  fight  under 
English  leading.* 

Happily  for  Staunton's  weai-y  and  diminished  band, 
Smith  came  up  the  next  morning,  and  the  desponding 
Peshwa  continued  his  retreat.  Turn  where  he  would, 
there  was  no  rest  for  his  jaded  soldiers.  Mnnro  with  a 
weak  force,  partly  of  his  own  raising,  headed  him  on  his 
way  to  the  Camatic,  took  several  of  his  strong  places,  and 
drove  him  northwards  within  reach  of  General  Smith. 

On  the  19th  February,  1818,  that  officer  overtook  and 
routed  the  flying  foe  at  the  village  of  Ashti.  Bapu  Gokla, 
the  Peshwa's  staunchest  and  ablest  follower,  perished  in 
the  field,  while  covering  the  retreat  of  his  cowardly  master. 
For  some  weeks  longer  Baji  Rao  fled  hither  and  thither 
before  his  resolute  pursuers.  But  at  length  all  hope  for- 
sook him  as  the  circle  of  escape  grew  daily  narrower ;  and 
La  the  middle  of  May  the  gi-eat-grandson  of  Balaji  Vish- 
wanath  yielded  himself  to  Sir  John  Malcolm  at  Indor,  on 
terms  far  more  Mberal  than  he  had  any  reason  to  expect. 
Even  for  the  faithful  few  who  still  shared  his  fortunes  due 
provision  was  made  at  his  request.  He  himself  spent  the 
rest  of  his  days  a  princely  pensioner  at  Bithur,  near 
Cawnpore  ;  but  the  sceptre  which  he  and  his  sires  had 
wielded  for  a  hundi-ed  years  passed  into  English  hands, 
while  the  Kajah  of  Satara,  the  long-neglected  heir  of  the 
house  of  Sivaji,  was  restored  to  the  nominal  headship  of 
the  Maratha  power. 

Meanwhile  Appa  Sahib,  the  usurping  Rajah  of  Berar, 
had  no  sooner  heard  of  the  outbreak  at  Pima,  than  he, 

*  Only  three  English  officers  remained  tmhort  out  of  eleven.  Of  the 
men  175  were  killed  and  wounded. 


300  mSTOEY    OP    INDIA. 

too,  like  the  Peshwa,  tkrew  oif  his  mask.  On  the  evening 
of  the  24th  Novemher,  1817,  his  troops,  to  the  number  of 
18,000,  suddenly  attacked  the  weak  English  and  Sepoy 
force  of  1,400  men  vrith  four  guns,  posted  on  the  Sita- 
baldi  Hills,  outside  Nagpiir.  A  terrible  fight  for  eighteen 
hours  ended  in  the  repulse  of  the  assailants,  with  a  loss  to 
the  victors  of  more  than  300  men  and  twelve  oflicers.  A 
few  weeks  later  Nagpur  itself  was  occupied  after  another 
fight.  Even  then  the  Rajah  might  have  kept  his  throne, 
for  his  conquerors  were  merciful  and  hoped  the  best. 
But  they  hoped  in  vain.  It  was  not  long  before  Appa 
Sahib,  caught  out  in  fresh  intrigues,  was  sent  ofi'  a  pri- 
soner towards  AUahabad.  Escaping  from  his  captors,  he 
wandered  about  the  country  for  several  years,  and  died  at 
Labor  a  pensioner  on  the  bounty  of  Ranjit  Singh. 

The  house  of  Holkar  had  also  paid  the  penalty  of  its 
rash  resistance  to  our  arms.  After  the  murder  of  Tulsi 
Bhai,  Regent  of  Indor,  by  the  chiefs  of  her  own  army,  in 
1817,  they  spumed  all  Malcolm's  offers  of  peace,  and  from 
a  strong  position  at  Mahidpur,  on  the  banks  of  the  Sipri, 
awaited  the  attack  of  a  Madras  column  led  by  Sir  Thomas 
Hislop.  Under  a  withering  fire  from  the  Maratha  guns 
Hislop's  Sepoys  crossed  the  river  in  the  face  of  20,000 
foes,  and  carried  all  before  them  with  the  bayonet,  after  a 
hard  struggle  which  cost  the  victors  778  men.  Sixty- 
three  guns  with  all  the  camp  stores  fell  into  their  hands. 
On  the  6th  January,  1818,  the  young  Holkar  was  glad 
to  sign  a  treaty  which  placed  him  and  his  heirs  under 
English  protection  at  the  cost  of  his  independence  and  of 
some  part  of  his  realm.  Luckily  for  himself,  Sindia 
had  remained  quiet,  if  not  quite  loyal,  throughout  this 
last  struggle  between  the  English  and  his  Maratha  kins- 
folk. 

Thus  in  one  short  and  decisive  campaign,  the  great 
Maratha  power,  which  had  survived  the  slaughter  of 
Panipat,  fell  shattered  to  pieces  by  the  same  blow  which 


MARQUIS    OF    HASTINOS.  801 

crushed  the  Pindaris,  and  raised  an  English  merchant- 
company  to  the  paramount  lordship  of  all  India.  The  last 
of  the  Peshwas  had  ceased  to  reign,  the  Rajah  of  Berar 
was  a  discrowned  fugitive,  the  Rajah  of  Satara  a  king 
only  in  name,  -while  Sindia,  Holkar,  and  the  Nizam 
were  dependent  princes  who  reigned  only  by  suiferance  of 
an  English  Governor-General  at  Calcutta.  The  Moghal 
Empire  lingered  only  in  the  Palace  of  Dehli ;  its  former 
viceroy,  the  Nawab  of  Audh,  was  our  obedient  vassal  ; 
the  haughty  princes  of  Rajputana  bowed  their  necks, 
more  or  less  cheerfully,  to  the  yoke  of  masters  merciful  as 
Akbar  and  mightier  than  Aurangzib.  Ranjit  Singh  him- 
self cultivated  the  goodwill  of  those  powerful  neighbours 
who  had  sheltered  the  Sikhs  of  Sirhind  from  his  ambitious 
inroads.  With  the  final  overthrow  of  the  Marathas  a  new 
reign  of  peace,  order,  and  general  progress  began  for 
peoples  who,  during  a  hundred  and  fifty  years,  had  lived 
in  a  ceaseless  whirl  of  anarchy  and  armed  strife. 

With  the  capture  of  Asirgarh  in  April  1819,  the  fighting 
in  Southern  India  came  to  an  end.  The  country  con- 
quered from  the  Peshwa  was  placed  under  the  fostering 
care  of  Mountstuart  Elphinstone,  who  afterwards,  as 
Governor  of  Bombay,  completed  the  healing  work  which 
he  and  his  able  subalterns  had  begun  from  Piina.  Sir 
Thomas  Munro,  one  of  the  ablest  soldier-statesmen  of  his 
time  in  India,  became  ere  long  Governor  of  Madras,  and 
reformed  the  land-revenue  system  of  that  Presidency  in 
accordance  with  the  lessons  he  had  learned  in  the  Ceded 
Districts.*  About  the  same  time  Mr.  Holt  Mackenzie 
entered  on  the  task  of  reassessing  the  land  in  the  North- 
western Provinces,  on  the  basis  of  a  settlement  neither 
with  the  Rayat  as  in  Madras,  nor  with  the  Zamindar  as  in 
Bengal,  but  with  the  head-man  of  every  village  community. 

*  The  Rayatwiri  system,  of  which  Munro  was  the  chief  advocate, 
was,  broadly  speaking,  a  yearly  settlement  of  the  land- revenue  with 
each  rayat  or  cultivator. 


302  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

In  Orissa,  on  the  other  hand,  a  popular  outbreak,  caused 
by  excessive  demands  for  land-revenue,  had  to  be  put  down 
by  force,  and  the  assessments  to  be  curtailed  by  nearly 
one-half. 

Free  at  length  from  warlike  cares.  Lord  Hastings  threw 
himself  with  unflagging  zeal  into  the  task  of  governing  his 
broad  dominions.  His  great  capacity  for  hard  work  was 
enhanced  by  a  thorough  mastery  of  details  and  the  liberal 
spirit  of  his  measures  for  the  good  of  his  native  subjects. 
He  helped  to  found  schools  for  the  teaching  of  native 
children  and  youths.  A  native  newspaper — the  first  of  its 
kind — started  by  the  Serampiir  Mission,  received  his 
steady  support.  The  EngUsh  press  in  India  became  for  a 
time  practically  free.  He  restored  the  canal  which  had 
once  suppHed  Dehli  with  water  from  the  Upper  Jamna. 
Calcutta  itself  was  sweetened  with  broad  streets  and 
shady  squares,  and  adorned  with  a  noble  strand.  In  1819, 
with  the  help  of  Sir  Stamford  Raffles,  he  made  up  for  the 
loss  of  Java,  given  back  to  the  Dutch,  by  purchasing  from 
its  native  ruler  the  neighbouring  island  of  Singapore. 
His  own  example  did  much  to  raise  the  tone  of  the  Indian 
services,  and  to  strengthen  their  hold  on  the  goodwill  of 
the  people  at  large. 

The  only  cloud  upon  these  later  years  was  caused  by 
the  embarrassed  state  of  the  Nizam's  affairs.  The  great 
banking  firm  of  Palmer  &  Co.  had  become  a  power  at 
Haidarabad — a  power  which  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe  at  length 
pronounced  so  dangerous,  that  Lord  Hastings  was  com- 
pelled to  step  in  between  the  impoverished  Nizam  and  his 
more  and  more  grasping  creditors.  The  claims  of  the 
former  to  a  yearly  tribute  for  the  Northern  Sarkars  were 
wiped  out  for  ever  by  the  payment  of  a  large  sum  down, 
most  of  which  went  to  extinguish  the  loans  due  to  the 
English  bankers.  A  year  afterwards  the  house  of  Palmer 
&  Co.  stopped  payment,  while  the  Nizam  appears  to  have 
reaped  no  lasting  good  from  a  compromise  which  placed 


MARQUIS    OF    HASTINGS.  303 

liim  more  than  ever  at  the  mercy  of  his  turbulent  barons, 
and  of  native  usurers  far  less  scrupulous  than  those  from 
whom  he  had  been  rescued. 

Lord  Hastings'  services  to  the  Company  were  crowned 
by  his  marked  success  in  matters  of  finance.  In  spite  of 
costly  wars  and  other  somxes  of  increased  outlay,  the 
Indian  revenues  before  his  retirement  were  yielding  a 
yearly  surplus  of  two  millions,  and  the  Company's  credit 
stood  at  a  premium  of  fourteen  per  cent.  AU  this,  how- 
ever, added  to  his  former  deserts,  failed  to  avert  from 
Lord  Hastings  the  attacks  which  awaited  him  on  his 
return  to  England  in  1823.  The  coolness  of  the  India 
Board  became  open  hostility  in  the  Court  of  Proprietors, 
whose  vote  of  virtual  censure  for  his  conduct  in  the  affairs 
of  Palmer  &  Co.  was  only  softened  by  his  acquittal  of  any 
corrupt  intent.  It  was  not  till  after  his  death  in  1827 
that  the  India  House  made  some  amends  for  its  past  un- 
fairness by  voting  the  payment  of  £20,000  to  his  son. 


804 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LOItD  AMHERST  AND  LORD  WILLIAM  BENTIXCK 1823-1835. 

For  the  next  few  months  after  the  departure  of  Lord 
Hastings,  the  govemment  of  British  India  rested  in  the 
hands  of  Mr.  Adam,  senior  member  of  the  Calcutta  Coun- 
cil. His  rule  was  chiefly  memorable  for  the  harsh  treat- 
ment of  Mr.  SUk  Buckingham,  the  able  and  independent 
founder  of  the  Calcutta  Journal,  whose  comments  on 
oflicial  acts  and  persons  provoked  Lord  Hastings'  narrow- 
minded  successor  to  decree  his  banishment  and  virtual 
ruin.  The  press  of  India,  as  if  imfit  to  exercise  its  new- 
bom  freedom,  was  once  more  placed  under  close  super- 
vision by  a  ruler  bred  in  the  despotic  traditions  of  other 
days.  Meanwhile  the  sudden  death  of  Lord  Londonderry 
— the  Lord  Castlereagh  of  earlier  times — had  determined 
Canning,  the  Governor-General  elect,  to  resume  his  place 
in  the  English  Ministry,  instead  of  giving  India  the  bene- 
fit of  his  commanding  talents.  At  length  Lord  Amherst, 
the  late  ambassador  to  China,  was  appointed  to  the  vacant 
post,  and  reached  Calcutta  on  the  1st  August,  1823. 

His  arrival  proved  to  be  the  forerunner  of  a  new  war. 
The  conquest  of  Assam  by  the  Burmese  in  1822  had 
inflamed  the  ambition  of  a  power  which,  from  small  begin- 
nings, had  in  the  last  seventy  years  established  its  sway 
over  the  neighbouring  provinces  of  Arakan,  Pegu,  and 
Tenasserim.  The  successors  of  Alompra  had  even  begun 
to  dispute  our  right  to  various  provinces  of  Bengal ;  and 
an  insolent  letter  to  Lord  Hastings  in  1818 — so  insolent 
that  he  treated  it  as  a  mere  forgery — was  ere  long  fol- 


LORD    AMHERST    AND    LORD   WILLIAM   BESTINCK.        305 

lowed  bj'  an  mroad  into  Kachar.  At  length,  in  1823, 
English  forbearance  gave  way  before  a  Burman  attack 
upon  Shapiiri,  a  British  island  off  the  Ai-akan  coast.  It 
was  soon  recovered  by  a  British  force  ;  but  the  warnings 
addiessed  to  the  Court  of  Ara  were  answered  only  by  the 
despatch  of  Maha  Bandiila,  the  great  Burman  general, 
with  an  army  intended  for  the  conquest  of  Bengal  and  the 
capture  of  the  Governor-General  himself. 

In  February,  1824,  Lord  Amherst  declared  war  in  his 
turn  against  the  insolent  barbarians  who  had  mistaken 
forbearance  for  fear.  Bandiila's  progress  in  Bengal  was 
soon  checked.  Before  the  middle  of  May  a  strong  force 
from  Madras,  under  Sir  Archibald  Campbell,  captured 
with  unexpected  ease  the  important  town  of  Rangoon, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Irawadi.  After  the  long  inaction 
caused  by  the  heavy  rains  of  a  tropical  summer — inaction 
relieved  only  by  the  capture  of  several  places  on  the 
Tenasserim  coast,  and  of  a  few  stockades  near  Rangoon — 
Campbell's  army  marched  out  to  attack  Bandiila,  who 
barred  the  way  inland  with  60,000  of  his  rabble  warriors, 
mostly  entrenched  behind  strong  stockades.  By  the  middle 
of  December  the  last  of  these  had  been  carried,  and  the 
boastful  Burman  retired  with  aU  haste  to  his  stockaded 
fortress  of  Donabyu,  forty  miles  up  the  Irawadi.  The 
repulse  of  a  weak  brigade  from  this  place  in  March  of  the 
following  year  was  retrieved  by  its  capture  in  April,  under 
the  eyes  of  Campbell  himself,  who  brought  back  his  troops 
and  heavy  guns  betimes  to  Cotton's  aid.*  Before  the  end 
of  April,  Prome  itself,  the  capital  of  Lower  Burmah,  was 
occupied  by  an  English  garrison,  and  the  Burmese  began 
to  treat  for  peace. 

By  this  time  Colonel  Richards  had  driven  the  Burmese 
out  of  Assam,  and  gained  firm  possession  of  its  capital, 
Rangpiir.     On  the  other  hand  an  attempt  to  reach  Mani- 

*  The  death  of  Bandiila  during  the  attack  contributed  greatly  to 
Campbell's  success. 


306  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

piir  from  Kachar  had  been  utterly  baffled  by  the  hardships 
of  a  march  in  the  rainy  season  through  an  unbroken  suc- 
cession of  steep  hills  and  hoUows,  covered  with  pathless 
forests  and  beset  with  deep  quagmires.  Yet  more  disas- 
trous was  General  Morrison's  march  from  Chittagong  into 
Arakiin  in  1825.  Precious  time  was  lost  upon  the  road  ; 
the  May  rains  involved  a  halt  at  the  town  of  Arakan  ;  and 
the  subsequent  sickness  among  our  troops  slew  one-fourth 
of  the  whole  number,  and  disabled  nearly  all  the  rest 
The  country  was  conquered,  but  of  the  10,000  men  who 
invaded  it,  very  few  were  fit  for  duty  when  the  order 
came  for  their  return  home. 

Once  more,  towards  the  end  of  1825,  Sir  A.  Campbell 
moved  out  against  the  Burmese,  for  their  haughty  monarch 
would  not  yet  stoop  to  make  peace  on  the  only  terms 
which  Campbell  was  empowered  to  offer.  After  carrying 
a  few  more  stockades  and  routing  a  fresh  Barman  army 
near  Prome,  the  English  general  marched  on  to  Yandabii, 
within  sixty  miles  of  Ava  itself.  At  length  the  king,  fairly 
frightened,  agreed  to  purchase  peace  by  the  cession  of 
Assam,  Arakan,  and  Tenasserim,  and  the  payment  of  a 
million  sterling  towards  the  expenses  of  a  war  which  had 
cost  the  victors  nearly  thii'teen  millions.  Even  at  that 
price,  however,  the  conquered  provinces  have  proved  well 
worth  the  conquering.  The  rice  of  Arakiin  and  the  tea  of 
Assam  are  important  staples  of  Indian  commerce  ;  and 
the  goods  that  pass  through  Maulmain,  the  chief  port  of 
Tenasserim,  akeady  amount  in  value  to  nearly  a  million 
a-year. 

One  sad  incident  sprang  out  of  this  prolonged  and  mis- 
managed war.  The  Madras  Sepoys  went  cheerfully  across 
the  sea  to  fight  the  new  enemy,  but  their  high-cast« 
brethi'en  of  Bengal,  with  their  religious  dread  of  the 
"black  water,"  could  only  be  forwarded  to  the  field  by  land. 
Several  regiments  had  akeady  started  in  182i,  and  others 
were  awaiting  the  order  to  start.     But  the  arrangements  for 


LOED  AMHERST  AND  LORD  ^MLLIAM  BENTINCK.   307 

their  march  mvolved  them  in  expenses  to  which  they  had 
never  been  accustomed.  The  news  from  the  eastern 
frontier  of  Bengal,  magnified  by  distance  and  transmission 
fr'om  mouth  to  moutli,  struck  terror  into  the  hearts  of  the 
Sepoys  waiting  for  their  tm-n  at  Barrackpore.  Tlieir 
reasonable  complaints  unheeded  by  the  Government,  they 
began  to  nurse  all  kinds  of  unreasonable  fancies.  They 
believed  that  Government,  in  default  of  baggage-cattle, 
was  about  to  carry  them  to  Rangoon  by  sea.  Discontent 
soon  ripened  into  open  mutiny,  in  which  the  47th  Regi- 
ment took  the  lead.  Its  officers,  new  to  their  men,  for  the 
whole  native  army  had  just  been  remodelled,  failed  to 
check  the  mutinous  spirit  which  now  found  vent  in  open 
refusals  to  attend  parade.  On  the  morning  of  the  2nd 
November,  the  47th  Regiment  were  confronted  by  the 
troops  which  Sir  Edward  Paget,  the  Commander-in-Chief, 
had  brought  up  overnight  to  Barrackpore.  The  Sepoys, 
hke  passionate  children,  refused  either  to  march  or  to 
ground  their  arms.  The  two  English  regiments  wheeled 
aside  to  let  the  guns  come  forward,  ready  loaded  with 
grape.  At  the  first  discharge,  the  frightened  Sepoys  cast 
away  their  unloaded  muskets,  and  fled  hke  scared  sheep, 
followed  by  the  troopers  of  the  body-guard.  A  good 
many  were  shot  down,  sabred,  or  drowned  in  the  Hiighh  ; 
the  ringleaders  were  afterwards  sentenced  to  death  or 
hard  labour  ;  and  the  regiment  itself  was  struck  off  the 
list  of  the  Bengal  army.  There  was  no  more  mutiny  for 
many  years  to  come  ;  but  the  verdict  of  a  com-t  of  inquin- 
betokened  the  general  sympathy  with  men  whose  im- 
soldierly  outbreak  had  been  largely  owing  to  their  mas- 
ters' own  fault.* 

WTiile  the  Burmese  war  was  yet  on  foot,  the  growing 
insolence  of  the  new  Rajah  of  Bhartpiir  had  led  to  a 
second  siege  of  that  renowned  fortress,  with  happier  issues 

*  "  The  mutiny,"  said  the  Court,  "  was  an  ebnUition  of  despair  at 
being  compelled  to  march  without  the  means  of  doing  so." 

x2 


308  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

than  those  of  1805.  In  December,  1825,  20,000  men, 
with  a  hundred  guns,  marched  out  under  Lord  Combermere 
— the  Sir  Stapylton  Cotton  of  the  Peninsular  war — and 
the  fortress  which  Durjan  Sal  had  deemed  impregnable, 
and  on  which  our  heaviest  guns  could  make  no  impres- 
sion, was  carried  by  storm  after  a  wide  gap  in  its  defences 
had  been  opened  by  the  bursting  of  a  great  mine,  on  the 
18th  January.  Durjan  Sal  atoned  for  his  rashness  with 
the  forfeiture  of  his  realm,  which  was  handed  over  to  the 
nephew  he  had  supplanted  ;  and  the  dismantling  of  Bhart- 
piir  itself  once  more  proclaimed  to  the  native  princes  the 
irresistible,  if  sometimes  dormant,  strength  of  their  new 
masters. 

In  1827  the  East  India  Company  lost  one  of  their  ablest 
servants,  and  Madras  her  most  popular  governor,  by  the 
death  of  Sir  Thomas  Munro.  In  the  same  year  Elphin- 
stone  was  succeeded  in  Bombay  by  the  soldier-statesman, 
Sir  John  Malcolm.  It  was  in  1826  that  Reginald  Heber, 
the  scholarly,  pious,  gentle,  and  justly-beloved  Bishop  of 
Calcutta,  passed  away  to  his  rest,  after  three  years  of  un- 
wearied labour  throughout  a  diocese  then  comprising  the 
whole  of  British  India.  In  this  year  also  died  Daulat  Rao 
Sindia,  leaving  his  dominions  to  be  ruled  by  his  widow,  in 
the  name  of  her  adopted  son,  Jankaji  Sindia.  About  the 
same  time  the  government  of  Nagpur  was  handed  over  to 
its  young  Rajah,  whose  subjects  soon  found  cause  to  regret 
the  change  of  rulers.  The  death  of  the  gallant  Ochterlony 
in  1826  bad  led  to  the  removal  of  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe 
from  Haidarabiid  to  Dehli,  and  the  good  eflect  of  his  wise 
counsels  soon  passed  away  from  the  feeble  government  of 
the  Nizam.  After  a  farewell  progress  through  the  upper 
provinces.  Lord  Amherst  himself  retired  from  office  and 
from  India  in  February,  1828. 

Lord  Amherst  was  succeeded  by  that  Lord  William 
Bentinck  whose  career  as  Governor  of  Madras  had  closed 
so  abruptly  after  the  mutiny  of  VeUor.     Coming  out  again 


LORD    AMHERST    AND    LOED    WILLIAM    BENTINCK.       309 

to  India  full  of  humane  intentions,  and  charged  with  strict 
orders  to  keep  down  the  public  expenses,  he  had  the  good 
fortune  to  achieve  his  twofold  mission  during  a  period  of 
general  peace.  Before  the  end  of  1829  he  had  issued  the 
decree  which  made  Satti,  or  widow-burning,  thenceforth 
punishable  as  murder  throughout  British  India.  lu  the 
following  year  he  began  a  merciless  war  against  the  Thags, 
a  brotherhood  of  secret  murderers  who,  in  the  name  of 
their  goddess  Kali,  were  wont  to  strangle  in  lonely  places 
the  unwary  travellers  whom  they  had  agreed  to  rob.  The 
task  of  hunting  down  these  ruffians  was  entrusted  to  the 
active  Major  Sleeman,  who,  aided  by  a  staff  of  picked 
subordinates,  and  the  clues  supplied  by  one  of  their  own 
number,  tracked  them  into  their  secret  haunts,  caught 
several  thousands  of  them  in  a  few  years,  and  succeeded 
in  utterly  suppressing  their  dreadful  trade. 

In  unwilling  obedience  to  orders  from  England,  Lord 
William  Bentinck  carried  out  the  ungracious  task  of  cut- 
ting down  the  pay  of  his  native  troops  in  Bengal.  Officers 
and  men  were  alike  indignant  at  a  measure  which  seemed 
to  them  a  wanton  breach  of  faith,  a  measure  which  applied 
only  to  the  stations  nearest  Calcutta.  But  the  Court  of 
Directors  paid  no  heed  to  their  just  complaints,  and  Lord 
Wilham  Bentinck  saw  no  way  of  shirking  the  enforcement 
of  a  cheese-paring  thrift  which  saved  his  masters  about 
twenty  thousand  a-year,  and  rendered  himself  for  a  time 
the  worst  abused  Englishman  in  all  India.  In  curtailing  the 
allowances  of  civil  servants,  his  lordship  acted  with  much 
less  reluctance,  and  his  masters  with  better  excuse.  An- 
other of  his  reforms  laid  him  open  to  just  censure  :  the 
aboUtion  of  flogging  in  the  native  army,  while  the  punish- 
ment was  still  retained  for  our  white  troops,  did  honour  to 
his  humanity  at  the  expense  of  his  political  foresight. 

His  humanity  was  employed  to  better  purpose  in  open- 
ing to  the  natives  those  higher  ranks  of  the  civil  service 
from  which  Lord  Cornwallis  had  shut  them  out.     Native 


310  HISTOBY    OF    L\DIA. 

judges  sat  once  more  in  civil  courts  ;  native  Christians 
were  encouraged  to  take  office  ;  and  the  old  Hindu  laws  of 
inheritance  were  shorn  of  the  provisions  which  virtually 
forbade  the  descent  of  Hindu  property  to  heirs  of  another 
creed.  Some  useful  reforms  were  made  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  justice,  and  the  native  languages  of  India  sup- 
planted Persian  in  the  courts  of  law.  A  medical  college 
for  the  natives  was  founded  in  Calcutta,  and  the  study  of 
Western  lore  and  science  was  encouraged  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  English  teaching  into  the  State-aided  schools — a 
measure  largely  due  to  the  zeal  of  such  men  as  Mr. 
Macaulay  and  Sir  Charles  Trevelyan. 

In  1833  Lord  Bentinok  gave   the  word  for  a  revised 
settlement  of  the  North-Western  Provinces  on  the  lines 
laid   out  in  1822.     Under  the   able   lead  of  Mr.  Robert 
Mertins  Bird,  the  work  of  survejing  and  reassessing  the 
land  of  a  province  larger  than  England  and  Wales,  and 
more  populous  than  Great  Britain,  was  carried  through  in 
eight  years,  with  all  the  care  and  thoroughness  demanded 
for  the    survey  of   a  private    estate.     The   trade  of   the 
country  received    a    new   impulse    from  Lord  Bentinck's 
efforts  in  its  behalf.     In  1830,  EngHsh  steamers,  bmit  at 
Calcutta,  made  their  way  for  the  first  time  up  the  Ganges 
to  Banaras  and  Allahabad.     The  same  year  also  witnessed 
the  successful  voyage  of  a  Government  steamer,  the  "Hugh 
Lindsay,"  from  Bombay  to  Suez,  at  the  top  of  the  Red 
Sea.     Had  Lord  Bentinck's  efforts  to  shorten  the  journey 
from  England  to  India  been  promptly  seconded  by  thoj 
Court  of  Directors,  twelve  years  would  not  have  been  lost! 
in  following  up  the  issues  of  an  experiment  which  markedl 
out  the  Isthmus  of  Suez  as  the  best  available  road  for  the| 
Indian  mails. 

In  his  dealings  with  native  princes,  Lord  WiUiam  Ben- 
tinck   combined    the    utmost   forbearance   with   a  certain  I 
share  of  fij-mness  on  fit  occasions.     The  Rajah  of  Jodpurl 
was    replaced   on    the    throne   from   which  his   rebeUiousj 


LORD    AMHEEST    AKD    LORD    WILLLMI    BENTIKCK.       311 

barons  had  ousted  him.  The  mother  of  the  young  Sindia 
■was  bidden  to  hand  over  the  reins  of  government  to  her 
son.  In  the  aflaii-s  of  Jaipur  and  Bhopal,  the  Governor- 
General  declined  to  interfere  for  the  maintenance  of  order 
and  the  protection  of  their  rightful  lords.  But  the  reek- 
less  and  incapable  Nawab  of  Audh  was  sharply  rebuked 
for  his  shortcomings,  and  plainly  warned  against  persist- 
ence in  misrule.  An  armed  force  under  General  Fraser 
was  sent  to  punish  the  refractory  Rajah  of  Kurg,  and  his 
little  state  was  brought  under  English  rule.  Kachar  was 
annexed  on  the  death  of  its  childish  ruler.  A  serious 
outbreak  in  Maisor,  provoked  by  the  misrule  of  its  in- 
capable Rajah,  had  to  be  put  down  by  a  strong  force  from 
Madras  ;  and  the  power  which  he  had  abused,  in  spite  of 
repeated  warnings,  passed  into  English  hands,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  terms  laid  down  by  Lord  WeUesley. 

A  rising  of  Mohammadan  fanatics  at  Baraset,  not  far 
from  Calcutta,  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  empire  in  1831. 
Inflamed  by  the  preaching  of  one  Titu  Mir,  a  disciple  of 
Saiyid  Ahmad,  founder  of  the  new  Wahabi  sect  in  the 
Panjab,*  they  proclaimed  a  holy  war  against  the  infidels 
in  Bengal,  and  launched  into  aU  manner  of  outrages  on 
their  Hindu  neighbours.  Their  suppression  was  followed 
in  the  next  year  by  a  rising  among  the  Kols,  an  aboriginal 
race  in  the  hills  of  Western  Bengal.  These  rude  foresters 
fell  upon  the  Hindu  settlers  and  underlings  whose  en- 
croachments and  hard  dealings  had  aroused  their  wrath  ; 
and  many  fields  were  wasted,  villages  burnt,  and  people 
slain,  before  the  revolt  was  put  down,  and  their  country 
placed  under  a  special  commissioner.  A  few  years  earlier, 
the  brave  young  soldier,  Outram,  had  reclaimed  the  Bhil 
tribes  in  the  forests  of  Khandesh  from  a  state  of  lawless 

*  In  1827  Saiyid  Ahmad  attacked  Peshawar,  wMch  Ranjft  Singh 
had  lately  won  from  the  Afghans.  The  attack  was  renewed  in  1830 
with  more  success,  but  he  was  soon  driven  out  again,  and  was  slain  in 
Kashnu'r  in  1831  by  the  Sikh  troops. 


312  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

savagery  into  one  of  peaceful  industry  and  ]o3'al  sub- 
misBion  to  our  rule. 

About  tbe  same  time  Captain  Hall  was  engaged  in 
taming  the  Mairs  who  inhabited  the  hills  of  Mairwara,  on 
the  borders  of  Ajmir.  Another  wild  race,  the  Khands  of 
Giimsar  in  the  Northern  Sarkars,  was  being  gradually 
weaned  by  the  labours  of  Captains  Campbell  and  Mac- 
pherson  fi'om  the  time-honoured  practice  of  manuring 
their  fields  witli  the  flesh  of  human  beings  offered  up  as 
a  sacrifice  to  the  Earth-goddess.  Noble  efforts  were  also 
made  by  several  of  our  countrymen,  with  the  warm  en- 
coui-agement  of  Lord  WUham  Bentinck,  to  check  the  pre- 
valence of  female  infanticide  among  the  Rajput  tribes  in 
various  parts  of  India.  But  a  practice  born  of  caste- 
pride,  and  of  hard  social  customs  which  forbade  the  mar- 
riage of  a  Rajput  girl  with  one  of  lower  rank,  which  made 
her  marriage  with  an  equal  ruinously  expensive,  and 
which  exposed  her  to  the  deep  disgrace  of  remaining 
unmarried,  was  not  to  be  uprooted  all  at  once  ;  and  the 
good  work  begun  by  Mr.  Duncan  in  the  first  years  of  this 
century  was  very  far  from  completion  when  Lord  Bentinck 
left  India. 

Meanwhile,  however,  the  results  of  two  wars  between 
Russia  and  Persia  had  made  Russian  influence  supreme 
at  Teheran,*  and  reawakened  among  EngUsh  statesmen 
those  fears  of  coming  danger  to  India  which  Lord  Wel- 
lesley's  and  Lord  Minto's  efforts  had  lulled  to  sleep.  It 
was  resolved  to  send  a  mission  to  Ranjit  Singh  by  way  of 
the  Indus,  with  the  twofold  object  of  strengthening  our 
relations  with  an  old  and  useful  ally,  and  of  bringing  the 
Amirs  of  Sindh  within  the  pale  of  Anglo-Indian  diplomacy. 
The  Talpiir  chiefs  from  Baluchistan,  who  had  wrested 
Sindh  from  the  Afghans  in  1786,  did  all  they  dared  to 
thwart  the  poUcy  of  their  English  neighbours  ;  but  Lieu- 

*  The  treaty  of  Turkomanchai  in  1828  had  given  Russia  a  large 
slice  of  Persian  territory  in  addition  to  the  conquests  of  1812, 


LORD    AMHERST    AND  LORD    WILLIAM    BENTINCK.        313 

tenant  Burnes  succeeded  in  passing  up  the  Indus  and 
delivering  his  presents  to  the  ruler  of  the  Panjab.*  Ranjit 
Singh  received  him  with  open  arms,  and  the  good  results 
of  then-  friendly  intercom-se  were  followed  up  by  a  formal 
interview  between  the  ambitious  Sikh  and  the  Governor- 
General  at  Kiipar,  on  the  Upper  Satlaj,  in  the  same  year. 
Sixteen  thousand  of  his  best  soldiers,  drilled  by  French 
and  Italian  officers,  attended  the  former  to  the  place  of 
meeting,  while  a  choice  brigade  of  Enghsh  troops  dis- 
charged the  like  duty  for  Lord  WUham  Bentinck. 

With  his  usual  good  sense,  the  great  Sikh  ruler  fell  in 
with  the  views  of  his  Enghsh  ally,  and  Shaikai-piir,  for 
which  he  had  been  hankering,  was  saved  to  the  Amirs  of 
Sindh.  The  treaties  concluded  with  him  and  the  Amirs 
opened  up  the  Indus  and  the  Satlaj  for  the  first  time  to 
English  trade,  and  the  Maharajah  of  Labor  found  fresh 
employment  for  his  restless  soldiery  in  resisting  the  at- 
tempts of  the  Afghan,  Dost  Mohammad,  to  regain  posssB- 
sion  of  Peshawar. 

At  length  in  March,  1835,  Lord  William  Bentinck 
sailed  for  England,  leaving  behind  him  the  memory  of  a 
wise,  humane,  and  successful  governor,  who  had  made 
the  welfare  of  his  subjects  his  foremost  aim,  struck  heavy 
blows  at  barbarous  usages,  reformed  the  civil  service, 
encouraged  modern  enterprise,  and  restored  the  Indian 
revenues  to  a  state  of  health.  The  last  years  of  his  rule 
were  memorable  for  the  debates  in  the  English  Parhament 
which  issued  in  the  extinction  of  the  Company's  last  re- 
maining privileges  in  respect  of  trade.  With  the  renewal 
of  their  charter  in  1833  for  another  twenty  years,  the 
China  monopoly  ceased  to  exist,  and  the  trade  with 
Chinese  ports  was  thrown  open  to  Enghshmen  of  every 
class.  From  that  time  also  our  countrjnnen  became  free 
to  settle  and  buy  lands  in  any  part  of  India,  while  no 

*  He  was  accompanied  by  Captain  Wood  of  the  Indian  navy,  who 
afterwards  explored  the  sources  of  the  Oxus. 


814  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

native  could  any  longer  be  debarred  from  public  office  by 
reason  of  bis  religion,  bii'tbplace,  colour,  or  descent.  The 
legislative  control  of  tbe  Governor-General  in  Council  over 
the  minor  governments  was  for  the  first  time  secured  by 
the  same  act,  and  an  English  lawyer  of  acknowledged 
repute  was  added  as  a  fourth  member  to  the  Calcutta 
Council.  The  first  holder  of  this  new  office  was  Sir. 
Macaulay,  the  briUiant  essayist  and  historian  of  a  later 
day,  whose  Indian  labours  were  long  afterwards  to  bear 
rich  fruit  in  the  penal  code  first  drafted  by  his  own 
hands. 


315 


CHAPTER  V. 

LORD  AUCKLAND 1836-1842. 

Mr.  Mountstuart  Elphinstone  having  declined  on  the 
plea  of  ill-health  to  take  Lord  William  BentLnck's  place, 
the  Government  of  India  was  for  a  time  entrusted  to  the 
able  hands  of  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe.  But  his  very  first 
measure,  the  passing  of  an  Act  which  made  the  press  of 
India  as  free  as  it  is  in  England,  gave  such  deep  offence  to 
the  Court  of  Directors,  that  all  his  past  services  were  for- 
gotten ;  and  the  Government  of  Madi-as,  which  had  just 
fallen  vacant  when  Lord  Auckland  went  out  to  India,  was 
refused  to  one  whom  the  dii-ectors  a  few  months  before 
would  have  confirmed  in  his  acting  appointment,  if  they 
could.  In  March,  1836,  Lord  Auckland  reached  Calcutta, 
and  soon  afterwards  Sir  Charles  exchanged  the  service  of 
the  Company  for  a  useful  and  distinguished  career  under 
the  Crown. 

The  first  two  years  of  Lord  Auckland's  rule  were 
marked  by  nothing  more  important  than  his  interference  at 
Lucknow  on  behalf  of  the  rightful  heir  to  the  throne  of 
Audh,  against  a  rival  set  up  by  the  widow  of  the  late 
Nawab.  In  1839  the  intrigues  of  the  Rajah  of  Satara, 
whom  Lord  Hastings  had  restored  to  freedom  and  kingly 
honours,  were  brought  to  a  final  stop  by  his  dethronement 
and  removal  to  Banaras. 

By  this  time,  however.  Lord  Auckland's  policy  had 
committed  India  to  a  war,  whose  ultimate  fruits  were  to 
be  gathered  amidst  vain  regrets  for  the  loss  of  many  hves, 
millions  of  money,  and  much  of  our  national  honour.     In 


316  HISTORY    OF    INDU. 

1837  Captain  Burnes,  Lord  Auckland's  envoy,  was  kindly 
received  at  Kabul  by  Dost  Mohammad,  the  Barakzai  chief, 
who  had  avenged  his  brother's  cruel  death  by  overturning 
the  dynasty  of  Zaman  Shah.  Not  content  with  governing 
the  unruly  Afghans,  Dost  Mohammad  was  eager  to  enlist 
our  aid  in  his  efforts  to  recover  the  rich  Peshawar  valley 
from  the  Sikhs.  A  Russian  emissary  was  then  at  Kabul. 
The  English  envoy's  mind  was  sedulously  fiUed  with 
warnings  of  the  danger  which  threatened  India  from  Rus- 
sia's progress  in  the  East.  But  Bumes's  enand  was 
purely  commercial :  and  Lord  Auckland  answered  the 
Amir's  overtures  by  a  plain  demand  for  the  dismissal  of 
his  Russian  visitor,  and  a  flat  refusal  to  aid  him  in  any 
way  against  our  Sikh  ally. 

Meanwhile  the  Shah  of  Persia,  with  the  help  of  Russian 
money  and  Russian  officers,  was  laying  siege  to  Herat,  the 
Gate  of  Afghanistan.  Dost  Mohammad's  brothers,  the 
princes  of  Kandahar,  were  treating  for  a  Persian  alliance ; 
and  the  Amir  of  Kabul  himself  was  ere  long  turning  to  the 
same  quarter  for  the  help  denied  him  from  Simla.  In 
this  state  of  affairs  Lord  Auckland  chose  the  very  worst  of 
the  courses  which  lay  open  to  him.  He  resolved  to  aid 
Shah  Shuja  in  recovering  the  kingdom  from  which  he  had 
been  more  than  once  expelled  by  Dost  Mohammad.  By  a 
treaty  concluded  with  the  royal  esUe  and  Ranjit  Singh  he 
bound  himself  to  support  the  latter  ia  his  efforts  to  replace 
the  imbecile  Shah  Shuja  on  the  throne  of  his  father, 
Ahmad  Shah.  In  the  teeth  of  every  argument,  of  warn- 
ings from  every  quarter  against  the  foUy  of  waging  an  un- 
provoked war  at  such  a  distance  from  his  own  frontier,  in 
a  barren  and  difficult  country  peopled  with  hardy,  warlike 
mountaineers,  Lord  Auckland  prepared  to  assemble  an 
army  for  the  invasion  of  Afghanistan.  The  Calcutta 
Council,  the  Com-t  of  Directors,  nearly  all  the  foremost 
statesmen  in  both  countries,  every  one,  in  short,  except 
Lord  Auckland,  his  secretaries,  a  number  of  young  Indian 


LORD  AUCKLAND.  317 

officers  eager  for  distinction  or  adventure,  and  Sir  John 
Hobhouse,  President  of  the  Board  of  Control,  was  against 
a  move  not  more  impolitic  than  unjust.  But  the  Governor- 
General  had  taken  it  into  his  head  that  Kussian  intrigues 
could  be  thwarted  only  by  the  dethronement  of  Dost 
Mohammad ;  nor  could  even  the  successful  defence  of 
Herat  by  the  daring  Lieutenant  Pottinger  avail  to  turn 
him  irom  his  purpose.  The  treaty  with  Ranjit  Singh  had 
pledged  the  English  to  help  Shah  Shnja  with  nothing 
more  than  money  and  English  officers,  and  all  danger  on 
the  side  of  Persia  had  been  removed  by  the  retreat  of  the 
Persian  army  from  Herat.  Shah  Shuja  himself  had  no 
wish  to  reappear  among  his  former  subjects  as  a  king  who 
owed  his  crown  to  British  bayonets.  But  Lord  Auckland 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  act  with  vigour,  and  before  the 
end  of  November,  1838,  the  "  Army  of  the  Indus  "  lay  en- 
camped on  the  sandy  plain  of  Firozpiir. 

For  some  time  all  went  swimmingly  enough.  The 
Amirs  of  Sindh  were  coerced  into  forwarding  the  designs 
of  the  Governor-General.  From  Karachi  and  Firozpiir 
the  two  divisions  of  the  invading  army  held  their  way 
towards  the  passes  in  the  Sulaiman  Hills,  which  lead  from 
the  Sindh  frontier  into  Afghanistan.  The  long  march 
through  dreary  deserts  and  dangerous  defiles  was  accom- 
plished painfully  but  successfully  under  the  supreme  com- 
mand of  Sir  John  Keane.  Before  the  end  of  April,  1839, 
Shah  Shuja  at  the  head  of  his  own  troops  had  entered 
Kandahar,  where  early  in  the  following  month  he  was 
joined  by  both  divisions  of  Keane's  army. 

After  a  rest  of  some  weeks  the  army  resumed  its 
march.  On  the  22nd  July  the  gates  of  the  strong  fortress 
of  Ghazni  were  blown  in  by  our  engineers,  and  the  place 
itself  stormed  by  a  bold  rush  with  little  loss  to  the  victors. 
Dost  Mohammad  sued  for  peace,  but  the  ofi'er  of  a  digni- 
fied retreat  on  Indian  ground  was  spurned  by  a  king  who 
had  ruled  his  subjects  with  marked  ability  for  more  than 


318  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

ten  years  ;  and  he  fled,  hotly  pursued  by  Outram,  to  the 
wilds  of  Bamiiin.  On  the  7th  August  his  victorious  rival 
rode  through  the  streets  of  Kabul,  escorted  by  British 
troops,  amidst  the  silence  or  the  muttered  curses  of  the 
people  he  had  not  seen  for  thirty  years,  to  his  palace- 
citadel  the  Bala  Hissiir. 

Meanwhile  the  Sikh  and  Afghan  force  under  Colonel 
Wade  had  won  its  way  from  Peshawar  through  the  Khaibar 
Pass  to  Jalalabad,  reaching  Kabul  on  the  3rd  September. 
Ranjit  Singh  himself,  the  old  one-eyed  "  Lion  of  the  Pan- 
jab,"  had  died  in  June  at  Labor,  after  a  masterful  reign  of 
about  forty  j-ears,  leaving  his  sceptre  in  the  nerveless  hands 
of  his  son  Karak  Singh.  Thus  far  the  army  of  the  Indus 
had  done  its  work ;  and  the  honours  showered  on  Lord 
Auckland,  Sir  John  Keane,  Colonel  Wade,  Mr.  Macnagh- 
ten,  and  other  chief  actors  in  the  late  events,  marked  the 
high  if  not  excessive  value  placed  on  their  deserts.  In 
September  the  Bombay  troops  began  their  homeward 
march,  capturing  on  their  way  the  town  of  Khelat,  whose 
Baluchi  master  had  been  caught  intriguing  against  Shah 
Shuja's  allies.  Some  ten  thousand  Bengal  troops  re- 
mained behind  to  gaiTison  the  chief  places  in  Afghanistan, 
while  the  care  of  our  political  interests  was  made  over 
to  Lord  Auckland's  Chief  Secretary,  Sir  WiUiam  Mac- 
naghten. 

For  some  time  longer  matters  in  the  conquered  country 
went  on  as  smoothly  as  could  be  desired.  Dost  Moham- 
mad, hunted  from  place  to  place,  yielded  himself  a 
prisoner  to  Sir  William  Macnaghten  in  November,  1840, 
and  withdrew  to  India  on  a  handsome  pension.  A  few 
disturbances  about  Kandahi'ir,  Khelat,  and  elsewhere,  were 
easily  suppressed.  In  1841,  however,  the  storm  of  popular 
discontent  began  to  blow  more  meaningly.  A  great  rising 
among  the  Khilji  tribes  near  Kandahar  was  quelled  only 
after  two  battles  and  much  loss  of  Ufe.  Later  in  the  year 
they  rose   again,    attacked    our  convoys,  and  spread  the 


LORD  AUCKLAND.  319 

flame  of  revolt  from  the  Khaibar  to  Kabul.  Sale's  brigade 
on  its  way  to  India  fell  back  to  Jalalabad.  The  Afghan 
hatred  of  the  infidel,  fed  by  the  loose  behaviour  of  English 
officers  towards  Afghan  women,  could  no  longer  contain 
itself.  At  length,  in  the  beginning  of  November,  Mac- 
naghten  and  Sir  Alexander  Bumes,  who  had  been  knighted 
for  his  many  services,  were  roughly  awakened  from  their 
dreams  of  a  security  in  which  clearer-sighted  officers  had 
long  ceased  to  believe. 

On  the  morning  of  the  2nd,  Bumes  was  attacked  and 
mm-dered  in  his  own  house  by  a  mob  of  furious  Afghans, 
in  revenge  for  the  oflfence  he  had  given  an  Afghan  noble. 
No  effort,  worth  the  naming,  was  made  either  by  Mac- 
naghten  or  the  EugUsh  officers  who  commanded  in  the 
cantonments  to  save  their  helpless  countryman,  or  to 
avenge  his  death.  The  insurrection,  which  might  easily 
have  been  quelled  at  once,  spread  fast  and  far.  In  the 
teeth  of  every  military  dictate  the  Bala  Hisstir  was  left  to 
the  sole  charge  of  Shah  Shuja,  and  five  thousand  Enghsh 
soldiers  and  Sepoys  were  shut  up  in  a  weak  cantonment, 
while  swai'ms  of  well-armed  Afghans  cut  off  their  chief 
supphes,  and  beat  back  the  troops  sent  out  to  dislodge 
them.  The  blundering  of  the  leaders  cowed  their  men, 
the  supplies  ran  short,  the  sharp  Afghan  ■ninter  was  set- 
ting in,  and  the  enemy  grew  bolder  day  by  day.  Mac- 
naghten  did  his  best  to  avert  by  diplomacy  the  disastrous 
issues  of  his  own  blindness  and  of  General  Elphinstone's 
unfitness  for  such  a  need.  But  English  honesty  was  no 
match  for  Afghan  cunning.  On  the  11th  December  it  was 
agreed  that  all  our  troops  should  be  allowed  to  quit  the 
country,  the  Afghans  finding  supplies  and  carriage  for  that 
purpose  ;  that  Dost  Mohammad  should  be  set  free ;  and 
that  the  Kabul  gaiTison  should  march  out  in  three  days, 
leaving  four  officers  as  hostages  in  the  hands  of  Akbar 
Khan,  the  son  of  Dost  Mohammad,  and  the  acknowledged 
leader  of  his  revolted  countrymen.     A  more  disgraceful 


320  HISTORY    OF    I>fDIA. 

treaty  had  never  perhaps  been  signed  by  Englishmen  ;  bnt 
Macnaghten,  a  brave  man  of  soldierly  instincts — he  had 
once  been  a  soldier  himself — saw  no  other  means  of  escape 
from  utter  ruin,  and  the  word  went  forth  for  the  evacua- 
tion of  all  our  strong  places  in  Afghanistan. 

Days  passed  however,  and  still  the  promised  supplies 
were  not  forthcoming.  In  despair  Macnaghten  strove  by 
secret  negotiations  to  sow  discord  among  the  Afghan 
leaders.  Akbar  Khan  got  scent  of  what  was  passing,  and 
laid  a  trap  into  which  the  ill-fated  envoy  fell  but  too 
readily.  At  the  interview  to  which  he  had  been  invited 
on  the  23rd  December,  the  officers  who  went  with  him 
were  suddenly  seized  by  some  of  Akbar's  men,  and  Mac- 
naghten himself,  after  a  short  struggle  with  the  angry 
chief,  was  shot  dead  by  Akbar's  own  hand.  The  deed  ap- 
pears to  have  been  done  upon  the  spur  of  the  moment, 
and  it  is  only  fair  to  suppose  that  the  seizure  rather  than 
the  death  of  so  important  a  leader  was  the  real  object  of 
his  murderer's  attack. 

Not  an  effort  was  made  to  avenge  Macnaghten's  death. 
Matters  only  grew  from  bad  to  worse.  There  was  no  lack 
of  brave  hearts  and  cool  heads  in  the  luckless  garrison, 
but  the  folly  or  the  helplessness  of  their  leaders  would 
have  paralysed  the  bravest  troops.  In  vain  did  Pottinger 
urge  a  stand  for  hfe  or  death  in  the  Bala  Hissar.  The 
negotiations  were  resumed,  and  Afghan  insolence  rose 
with  each  fresh  default  of  English  honour.  At  last,  on 
the  6th  January,  1842,  General  Elphinstone  marched  out 
of  his  cantonments,  leaving  behind  him  all  his  treasure, 
stores,  and  ordnance,  except  six  guns,  while  four  officers 
remained  as  hostages  in  Akbar's  hands.  The  snow  lay 
thick  on  the  ground,  and  the  neighbouring  hills  swarmed 
with  Afghan  marksmen  thirsting  for  EngUsh  blood. 

On  the  13th  January  one  Enghshman,  Dr.  Brydon, 
half  dead  from  wounds  and  exhaustion,  was  seen  guiding 
his  jaded  pony  towards  the  gates  of  Jalalabad.     Of  all  the 


LORD    AUCKLAND.  321 

five  thousand  soldiers,  with  twice  as  many  camp-followers, 
who  had  set  out  a  week  before,  he  alone  succeeded  in 
reaching  an  English  garrison,  to  tell  the  dismal  tale  of  his 
companions'  fate.  With  the  exception  of  a  hundred  and 
twenty  men,  women,  and  children,  whom  Akbar  Khan  had 
taken  prisoners  on  the  way,  and  a  few  score  Sepoys  who 
afterwards  straggled  into  Peshawar,  none  else  had  sur- 
Tived  the  horrors  of  a  retreat  in  mid-winter,  without  due 
supplies  of  any  sort,  through  mountain-passes  crowned 
with  hostile  Afghans,  and  blocked  with  a  mob  of  helpless 
fugitives,  who  fell  at  every  step  under  the  faDing  snow 
from  cold,  hunger,  or  the  deadly  rain  of  Afghan  bullets. 
Thousands  perished  in  the  Khiird  Kabul  Pass  alone.  In 
the  Jagdalak  Pass  the  slaughter  was  renewed,  until  every 
trace  of  a  disciplined  army  had  disappeared.  Some  sixty 
officers  and  men  reached  Gandamak ;  but  these  too,  with 
the  one  exception  of  Dr.  Brydon,  perished  on  the  road 
thence  to  Jalalabad. 

The  tidings  of  this  great  disaster,  the  heaviest  which 
had  yet  befallen  our  arms  in  Asia,  struck  dismay  for  the 
moment  into  every  English  heart  in  India  itself.  They 
became  the  talk  of  every  Indian  bazaar,  and  inspu'ed  our 
ill-wishers  throughout  the  country  with  vague  hopes  of  yet 
worse  things  to  come.  No  outward  stii-,  however,  gave 
form  to  the  feeling  of  the  hour,  nor  do  any  of  the  native 
princes  seem  to  have  renewed  their  old  intrigues  against 
our  rule.  Happily  for  England,  her  honour  was  still  up- 
held by  such  men  as  Nott  and  Kawlinson  at  Kandahiir, 
Sale  and  Broadfoot  at  Jalalabad,  Clerk,  Mackeson,  and 
Henry  Lawrence  in  the  Panjab.  While  Lord  Auckland 
and  his  Commander-in-Chief,  Sir  Jasper  NichoUs,  were 
feebly  paltering  with  the  new  danger,  Nott  and  Sale 
bravely  held  their  gi-ound,  deaf  to  the  orders  they  had  re- 
ceived from  Kabul  and  undismayed  by  the  annihilation  of 
Elphinstone's  force.  Instead  of  waiting  behind  his  de- 
fences, Nott  marched   out  and  beat  the  enemy  whenever 

Y 


322  HISTORY    OF   INDIA. 

he  got  a  chance,  and  even  sent  out  one  of  his  two  Sepcv 
brigades  under  Colonel  Wymer  to  show  the  backward 
General  England  the  way  into  Kandahar. 

Meanwhile  Mr.  George   Clerk,   as  Governor-General's 
agent,  was  straining  every  nerve  for  the  succour  of  General 
Sale.     But  the  failure  of  Colonel  Wild's  attempts  to  carry 
his  Sepoys  through  the  Khaibar  threw  Sale  back  upon  his 
own  resources  for  some  months  longer ;   while  the  mis- 
conduct  of  our   Sikh   allies,  the   apathy   of  Sir  Jasper 
NichoUs,  and  the  mutinous  spirit  which  had  spread  from 
the  Sikhs  to  our  own  Sepoys  at  Peshawar,  reduced  Clerk 
and  his  able  helpmates  to  the  verge  of  despair.     A  fresh 
brigade,  however,  was  already  on  its  way  to  Peshawar  I 
under   Colonel  George   Pollock,  a  Company's   officer  of  I 
acknowledged  worth  ;  and  other  troops  were  getting  ready  I 
for  the  same  service  at  Firozpiir. 

By  this  time  Lord  Auckland  had  resigned  his  post  into 
the  hands  of  Lord  Ellenborough,  who  reached  Calcutta  in 
February,  1842.  One  of  his  last  acts  had  been  to  sever 
the  old  connection  between  the  Government  and  the 
national  faiths.  The  revenues  derived  from  Hindu  temples 
and  religious  rites  were  made  over  to  the  care  of  Hindu , 
priests  ;  the  tax  on  pilgrims  was  abolished  on  grounds! 
stUl  open  to  question  ;  and  the  Company's  troops  were] 
forbidden  thenceforth  to  parade  in  honour  of  native  festi- 
vals. It  is  however  by  his  Afghan  policy  that  Lord  Auck- 
land is  best  remembered,  and  the  results  of  that  policy 
were  equally  hurtful  to  his  own  fame,  to  his  country's 
honom-,  and  to  the  finances  of  our  Indian  empire.  The 
sad  catastrophe  in  the  Afghan  snows  could  never  have  oc- 
curred but  for  the  ill-judged  invasion  of  Afghanistan  ;  and 
more  than  twenty  millions  were  added  to  the  debt  of 
India,  before  the  disgrace  of  Elphinstone's  retreat  from 
Kabul  had  been  wiped  out  by  the  victories  of  Nott  and 
Pollock. 


323 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LORD    ELLENBOKOUGH    AND    LORD  HARDINGE 1842-1848. 

A  FEW  weeks  before  Lord  Ellenborough's  landing  General 
Pollock  had  reached  Peshawar.  The  outlook  at  that 
moment  was  dark  enough.  Half  his  Sepoys  were  in  hos- 
pital, and  the  rest  were  deeply  tainted  with  the  mutinous 
spirit  of  AvitabUe's  Sikhs.  They  had  no  mind  to  face  the 
dreadful  Khaibar,  and  some  of  their  English  officers 
shared  the  feeling.  The  Sikhs  were  insolent  and  un- 
manageable by  their  own  commanders.  Sher  Singh,  the 
successor  of  Karak  at  Labor,  had  Httle  power  to  enforce 
compUance  with  Clerk's  demands  for  the  promised  succours 
and  supplies.  The  Ivhaibaris,  deaf  to  all  Mackeson's 
offers,  prepared  to  defend  the  pass  with  all  their  might. 
But  Pollock's  patience,  well  seconded  by  the  energy  of 
Clerk  and  Lawrence,  overcame  all  bindi-ances.  In  two 
months  the  quiet,  cool-headed  artiUery-officer,  who  had 
served  in  two  sieges  and  three  great  wars,  had  so  far 
recruited  the  health  and  discipline  of  his  troops,  that  the 
timely  arrival  of  English  gimners  and  dragoons  enabled 
him  on  the  5th  AprU  to  attempt  the  passage  of  the  far- 
famed  Khaibar. 

The  attempt  was  brilliantly  successful.  The  tremendous 
cliffs  on  either  side  of  the  pass  were  soon  swept  clear  of 
the  astonished  foe,  while  Pollock  with  the  centre  column 
held  his  way  unchecked  through  the  long  gloomy  gorges 
between.  By  the  15th  April  the  relieving  army  had  ex- 
changed greetings  with  the  brave  defenders  of  Jalalabad, 
fresh  from  their  last  victorious  sally  against  the  troops  of 
x2 


824 


HISTOEY    OF    INDIA. 


Akbar  Khan,  who  had  been  closely  besieging  them  for 
more  than  a  month  past.  With  the  utter  rout  of  the 
Afghans  on  the  7th  April  Sale's  heroic  garrison  found  rest 
from  their  prolonged  toUs,  and  perfect  freedom  from  any 
immediato  danger.  Not  till  three  months  after  their 
rescue  did  Pollock's  pleadings  for  an  advance  on  Kabul, 
in  behalf  of  English  honour  and  English  captives,  wring 


FORT    JAMRrn,    r-F>U.VWAR. 


from  Lord  Ellenborough  a  half-hearted  assent  to  the  only 
course  which  policy  and  patriotism  alike  dictated.  Pol- 
lock and  Nott  were  at  last  permitted  to  withdraw  at  their 
own  risk  from  Afghanistan  "  by  way  of  Kabul  and  Ghazni." 
Those  brave  men,  however,  were  quite  prepared  to  take 
all  the  risk  on  their  own  shoulders.  On  the  7th  August 
Nott  led  out  his  Sepoys  from  Kandahar.  On  the  80th  he 
took  Ghazni,  which  had  been  tamely  surrendered  to  the 


LORD  ELLENBOROUGH  AND  LORD  nARDINGE.    325 

Afghans  some  months  before.  The  fortifications  were 
blown  up,  and  the  famous  sandal-wood  gates  of  Somnath 
carried  off  from  the  spot  where  they  had  rested  for  eight 
centui'ies.  One  last  ■victory  on  the  14th  September  cleared 
the  road  to  Kabul,  where  tliree  days  afterwards  Nott  found 
Pollock  already  encamped. 

The  latter  general  had  set  out  from  Jalalabad  on  the 
20th  August,  dri\-ing  the  Afghans  before  him  at  Jagdalak 
on  the  23rd,  and  routing  Akbar  Khan's  best  troops  on  the 
13th  September  at  Tazin.  Two  days'  marching  brought 
him  to  Kabul,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  16th  the  British 
ensign  once  more  floated  proudly  from  the  top  of  the 
Bi'ila  Hissar.  One  thing  only  was  wanting  to  crown  the 
triumph  of  our  arms — the  recovery  of  the  captives  whom 
Akbar  had  sent  off  towards  Bamian.  The  honour  of 
rescuing  them  fell  to  Sir  Eichmond  Shakespear,  and  by 
the  22nd  September  they  were  all  safely  lodged  in  Pollock's 
camp.* 

After  the  capture  and  destruction  of  Istalif  and  Cha- 
rikar  by  General  McCaskill,  one  last  deed  of  vengeance  for 
past  humiliations  remained  to  do.  The  great  Bazaar  of 
Kabul,  where  Macnaghten's  mangled  body  had  been  ex- 
posed to  every  insult,  was  blown  up  and  utterly  destroyed, 
while  a  maddened  soldiery,  bursting  through  all  control, 
revelled  for  three  days  in  the  plunder  of  the  city  itself. 
At  last,  on  the  12th  October,  the  whole  army  set  out  from 
Kabul  on  their  march  homeward  thi-ough  the  Ivliaibar,  car- 
rying with  them  the  family  of  Shah  Shuja,  who  had  been 
slain  by  his  own  subjects  some  months  before.  His  eldest 
brother,  the  Mind  old  Zaman  Shah,  who  had  dreamed  of 
conquering  India  in  the  days  of  Lord  Wellesley,  and  been 
driven  from  his  throne  in  1801  by  a  brother  of  Dost  Mo- 
hammad, was  now  glad  to  close  his  days  on  English 
ground,  a  pensioner  on  the  bounty  of  his  ancient  foes. 

*  General  ElpMnstone  had  died  in  captivity.  Among  the  released 
prisoners  were  nine  ladies  and  several  children. 


826  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

A  splendid  gathering  of  troops  at  Firozpiir,  in  honour 
of  Pollock's  safe  return,  gratified  Lord  Ellenborough's 
taste  for  pageantry,  and  proclaimed  to  all  India  the  com- 
plete success  which  had  rewarded  the  efforts  of  his  com- 
manders to  wipe  out  the  stain  of  Elphinstone's  miscarriage. 
After  a  narrow  escape  fiom  adorning  Lord  Ellenborough's 
triumph.  Dost  Mohammad  was  set  free  to  govern  the  people 
who  had  once  more  flung  aside  the  dynasty  of  Shah 
Shuja.  A  bombastic  manifesto  from  Simla  announced  the 
removal  of  the  Somnath  Gates  to  India,  and  '•  the  insult 
of  eight  hundred  years  "  was  "  avenged  "  by  the  possession 
of  a  trophy  about  which  nobody  seemed  to  care,  and  of 
whose  genuineness  there  are  serious  doubts.'^'  For  their 
splendid  services  in  the  late  campaign — services  performed 
in  spite  of  Lord  Ellenborough's  virtual  opposition — PoUock 
and  Nott  received  each  a  knighthood,  with  a  handsome 
pension  from  the  Court  of  Du-ectors.  It  was  not  till 
nearly  thirty  years  later  that  Sir  George  PoUock  was  made 
a  bai-onet,  in  reward  for  achievements  which  not  only 
stamped  him  as  the  greatest  soldier  of  his  day.  but  had 
probably  saved  our  Indian  empire  from  perils  of  the  gravest 
kind. 

Pax  Asia  restituta — "Peace  restored  to  Asia" — was 
the  high-flown  legend  of  a  medal  struck  by  Lord  Ellen- 
borough's order  in  memory  of  the  late  events.  A  few 
weeks  afterwards  he  had  entered  on  a  war  with  Sindh. 
The  Amirs  of  that  country  were  rewarded  for  their  co- 
operation in  the  late  campaigns  by  a  demand  for  further 
concessions,  which  they  were  loath  to  yield.  The  demand 
was  enforced  by  a  movement  of  British  troops  under  Sir 
Charles  Napier  towards  Haidarabad  on  the  Indus.  On 
the  12th  February,  1843,  the  treaty  was  signed ;  but 
the  Baluchi  followers  of  the  Amirs  were  stiiTed  to  uncon- 

*  The  gates  which  hia  lordship  proposed  to  band  over  to  the  ''  princes 
and  chiefs  of  Sirhind,  of  Rajwara,  of  Malwa,  and  Gujarat,"  were  after- 
waids  stowed  away  in  a  lumber-room  of  the  Fort  at  Agra. 


mm } 


LORD  ELLENBOEOUGH  AND  LORD  HARDIXGE.     327 

trollable  rage  on  learning  that  half  the  country  had  been 
ceded  to  the  English  Government.  A  furious  attack  on 
the  Residency  at  Haidarabad  ended  in  the  retreat  of 
Major  Outram  and  his  weak  escort  to  an  anned  steamer 
on  the  Indus. 

On  the  17th  February  Sir  Charles  Napier  won  the  hard- 
fought  battle  of  Miiini  against  seven  times  his  own 
numbers.  The  capture  of  Haidai-abad  was  ere  long  fol- 
lowed by  another  great  victory  at  Dabha,  which  placed  aU 
Sindh  at  the  conqueror's  mercy.  The  despoiled  Amirs 
were  hunted  into  exile  or  borne  into  captivity  ;  their  con- 
quered kingdom  was  annexed  to  the  Bombay  Presidency  ; 
and  Sir  C.  Napier  became  the  successful  governor  of  a 
province  won  by  the  sword,  on  grounds  which  Outram  did 
not  stand  alone  in  condemning. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  Maratha  kingdom  of  Gwahor 
was  once  more  to  feel  the  weight  of  our  arms.  On  the 
death  of  Jankaji  Sindia  in  February,  his  uncle,  the  Nana 
Sahib,  became  regent,  with  the  Governor-General's  express 
sanction.  But  Jankaji's  widow  intrigued  with  the  troops 
against  him,  and  ere  long  a  favoured  rival  was  set  up  in 
his  place.  This  defiance  of  the  Paramount  Power  was 
made  more  serious  by  the  growing  turbulence  of  the 
Gwalior  aiTuy,  and  by  the  danger  which  seemed  to  threaten 
India  from  the  restless  ambition  of  the  great  military 
power  beyond  the  Satlaj.  Even  before  the  mm-der  of  our 
ally  Sher  Singh  in  September,  the  army  of  the  Khalsa  had 
begun  to  rule  the  Sikh  state,  and  the  men  whom  Kanjit 
Singh  had  hardly  kept  in  hand  might  be  tempted  at  any 
time  through  fear  or  wantonness  to  pick  a  quarrel  with 
their  Enghsh  neighbours. 

An  Enghsh  army,  under  the  veteran  Sir  Hugh  Gough, 
began  its  warning  march  towards  the  Chambal  in  De- 
cember, 1843,  accompanied  by  Lord  Ellenborough  himself. 
All  chance  of  a  peaceful  settlement  vanished  on  the  28th, 
when  the  Marathas  opened  fu-e  on  an  Enghsh  outpost  near 


328  HISTORY    OF   INDIA. 

Miihariijpur.  Next  morning  Sir  Hugh  Gough  carried 
with  the  bayonet  a  strong  position,  armed  with  powerful 
guns  and  defended  with  a  stubbornness  which  cost  him 
dear.  On  the  same  day  General  Grey's  division  fought 
and  routed  another  large  body  of  Marathas  at  Paniiir, 
twelve  miles  fi'om  Gwalior. 

These  two  victories  ended  the  brief  campaign.  The 
Queen-mother  and  her  young  son  the  very  next  day 
placed  themselves  at  the  mercy  of  Lord  EUenborough, 
who  had  shared  in  the  perils  of  the  day  before.  The 
former  was  pensioned  off;  a  council  of  regency  was  set 
up  under  the  virtual  control  of  the  Resident,  Colonel 
Sleeman  ;  the  Gwalior  army  was  cut  down  to  9,000  men  ; 
and  a  contingent  of  10,000  men,  largely  recruited  from 
the  old  Rajput  soldiery  who  had  fought  so  well  at  Maha- 
rajpiir,  was  placed  under  the  command  of  picked  EngUsh 
officers. 

While  the  Governor- General  was  thus  engaged  on  the 
frontier,  his  deputy  at  Calcutta,  Mr.  Wilberforce  Bird, 
carried  out  Lord  Auckland's  humane  designs  by  an  Act 
which  abolished  slavery  throughout  India.  A  few  months 
later  Lord  EUenborough  learned  the  tidings  of  his  own 
recal  by  a  vote  of  the  India  House,  in  spite  of  the  resist- 
ance offered  to  such  an  exercise  of  the  Company's  privilege 
by  the  Board  of  Control.  In  the  minds  of  the  Directors 
the  alarm  awakened  by  his  warlike  tendencies  went  hand 
in  hand  with  deep  resentment  of  his  insolent  behaviour 
towards  themselves  and  their  favourites  in  the  Civil  Ser- 
vice of  India.  In  July,  1844,  his  brother-in-law.  Sir 
Henry  Hardiuge,  landed  in  Calcutta,  and  took  up  the 
vacant  post.  The  very  last  months  of  Lord  Ellenborough's 
brief  rule  had  been  clouded  by  a  mutiny  among  the  Bengal 
Sepoys.  Several  of  the  regiments  which  had  been  ordered 
to  garrison  Sindh  stood  upon  their  right  to  receive  extra 
pay  for  foreign  service,  and  refused  for  a  time  to  march 
on.      Their   claims  were   at   length  conceded ;    but  one 


LORD    ELLENBOROUGH    AN'D    LORD    HARDINGE.  329 

regiment,  tlie  34th,  had  gone  so  far  towards  open  mutinj-, 
that  nothing  short  of  its  disbandment  could  be  allowed  to 
atone  for  its  offence.  Even  in  Madras  there  were  sj'rap- 
toms  of  a  like  spirit  during  the  same  year. 

A  rising  in  the  Southern  Maratha  highlands  about 
Kolapiir  broke  the  lull  of  Indian  politics  in  October, 
1844.  The  task  of  suppressing  it  brought  out  in  a  new 
field  the  skill  and  energy  of  Colonel  Outram,  worthily 
seconded  by  the  corn-age  and  endm-ance  of  his  troops.  A 
brilhant  campaign  against  the  Baluchi  raiders  on  the 
Sindh  frontier  in  1845  bore  fresh  witness  to  Napier's 
soldiership,  and  secured  the  peace  of  his  new  pro\'ince. 
Meanwhile  the  new  Governor- General  kept  his  eve  upon 
the  darkening  storm-cloud  in  the  Panjab.  With  the  death 
of  Sher  Singh  the  anarchy  beyond  the  Satlaj  gi-ew  worse 
and  worse.  A  powerful  army,  restless,  greedy  for  more 
pay  or  plunder,  filled  at  one  moment  with  wild  mistrust  of 
Anglo-Indian  statesmanship,  at  another  with  ignorant 
scorn  of  English  forbearance,  had  to  be  wooed  and 
humoured  by  successive  leaders,  each  of  whom  in  his 
turn  paid  with  a  bloody  death  the  price  of  his  own  folly 
or  of  his  soldiers'  fickleness.  Even  the  brave,  well-mean- 
ing Hira  Singh,  who  ruled  for  a  time  in  the  name  of  the 
boy-king,  Dhulip  Singh,  failed  to  escape  the  common 
doom.  Twice  in  two  years  had  a  large  Sikh  army  set 
out  from  Labor,  as  if  for  the  invasion  of  Hindustan.  Sir 
Henry  Hardinge  quietly  massed  his  troops  in  SLrhind, 
ready  for  the  struggle  whenever  it  might  come.  At  last, 
in  December,  1845,  a  gi-eat  Sikh  army  for  the  thii'd  time 
began  its  march  towards  the  Satlaj. 

That  the  Sikhs  were  in  earnest  on  this  occasion  no  one 
in  Hardinge's  camp  appears  to  have  beheved.  It  is  even 
doubtful  whether  they  themselves  had  quite  made  up  their 
minds  until  the  last  moment  to  dare  the  issue  of  a  struggle 
which  Kanjit  Singh  would  never  have  provoked.*  Be 
*  See  Sir  Henry  Lawrence's  "  Essays,  Military  and  Political." 


330  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

that  as  it  may,  Sir  Henry  Hardinge,  an  old  soldier  who 
had  earned  his  laurels  in  Spain  under  Wellington,  was 
not  to  be  caught  asleep.  Before  the  enemy  had  crossed 
the  Satlaj  our  troops  were  hurrying  by  double  marches 
towards  the  frontier,*  commanded  by  the  war-lovinc  Sir 
Hugh  Gough  himself.  On  the  12th  December  the  Sikh 
army,  about  60,000  strong  in  regular  troops  alone,  with 
150  guns,  began  to  cross  the  river,  and  by  the  16th  were 
encamped  in  threatening  neighbourhood  to  Firozpur.  Sir 
John  Littler,  with  half  of  his  10,000  men,  marched  out 
to  meet  them  ;  but  the  Sikhs,  declining  the  challenge, 
turned  aside  to  entrench  themselves  at  Firozshahr,  while 
20,000  of  them  pushed  on  towards  Miidki  in  hopes  of 
taking  Gough's  troops  by  sui-prise. 

-  On  the  18th  Gough's  wearied  soldiers  were  resting  near 
that  place,  when  the  gallant  Broadfoot  gave  timelv  warninc 
of  the  Sikh  advance.  The  battle  of  that  aftenioon  was 
waged  on  both  sides  with  equal  courage,  but  nothing  could 
withstand  the  repeated  onsets  of  the  Enghsh  horse,  fol- 
lowed up  by  the  steady  advance  in  line  of  our  brave 
infantry.  By  nightfall  the  Siklis  had  fled,  leaving  seven- 
teen guns  in  the  hands  of  the  victors,  whose  own  loss  had 
not  been  slight. 

Reinforced  by  half  of  Littler's  men  and  some  fresh 
troops  from  Ambala,  Gough  on  the  21st  led  his  army,  now 
17,000  strong,  against  the  Sikh  array  of  more  than 
■10,000  good  troops  entrenched  at  Firozshahr,  behind 
breastworks  guarded  by  a  hundred  guns.  Sir  Henry 
Hardinge,  who  had  placed  himself  under  Gough  as  second 
in  command,  led  the  centre  of  the  English  line.  Late  in 
the  afternoon  the  battle  began.  On  the  Enghsh  richt 
and  centre  all  went  fairly  well  in  spite  of  the  havoc 
wrought  by  the  steady  fire  from  guns  far  heavier  than  our 
own.     But   on   the   left,  where  Littler  commanded,  his 

*  They  marched  150  miles  in  six  days. 


LORD  ELLENBOROUGH  AND  LORD  HAEDINGE.     331 

infantry,  after  a  bokl  dash  forward,  fell  back  iu  utter 
disorder,  \\1ien  night  fell  upon  the  scene  of  carnage,  a 
few  thousand  English  soldiers  and  Sepoys  lay  on  the 
ground  they  had  already  won  within  the  entrenchment, 
worn  out,  hungn,-,  thirsty,  pinched  \\'ith  cold,  and  harassed 
by  the  frequent  fire  from  still  uncaptured  guns.  One  of 
these  tormentors  had  to  be  silenced  by  a  chai-ge  of  in- 
fantry under  Hardinge  himself.  There  was  even  talk  of  a 
retreat  on  Firozpiir,  but  neither  Gough  nor  Hardinge 
would  hear  of  a  move  so  fatal  to  English  honour. 

Once  more  with  returning  daylight  our  rallied  regiments 
advanced  to  complete  then-  work.  Lai  Singh's  battalions 
wavered,  broke,  and  fled  ;  battery  after  battery  fell  into 
our  hands ;  and  the  foe  were  already  out  of  sight,  when 
Tej  Singh,  coming  up  with  a  fresh  army  of  20,000  men 
and  60  guns,  spread  new  anxiety  in  om-  shattered  ranks. 
But  the  Sikh  leader  had  no  mind  to  dispute  the  issue  of 
those  two  days'  fighting ;  and  he  too  withdrew  from  the 
field,  after  firing  a  few  shots,  which  the  English  guns  for 
want  of  ammunition  could  not  return. 

The  victory  thus  hardly  earned  had  been  dearly  bought. 
Out  of  17,000  brought  into  the  field,  2,415  had  been 
killed  or  wounded,  including  ten  of  Sir  Henry's  aides-de- 
camp. For  the  next  few  weeks,  while  the  English  were 
awaiting  fresh  succoiu's  and  the  heavy  guns  from  Dehli, 
the  Sikhs  lay  idle  on  thcu-  own  side  of  the  Satlaj.  At  length, 
towards  the  end  of  JanuaiT,  1846,  Kanjor  Singh  recrossed 
the  river  and  threatened  Ludiana.  On  his  march  thither 
with  a  few  thousand  troops,  Sii-  Hany  Smith  lost  his  bag- 
gage near  the  fort  of  Baduwal.  But  a  few  days  later,  the 
brilliant  victory  of  Aliwal,  in  which  the  Sikhs  lost  67  guns, 
more  than  atoned  for  the  previous  mishap  ;  and  the  Sikhs, 
from  behind  their  strong  entrenchments  at  Sobraon  on  the 
Satlaj,  awaited  the  nest  move  in  the  EngUsh  game.  At 
last,  on  the  10th  Februaiy,  Gough's  warriors,  15,000 
strong,  dashed  foi-ward,  after  a  fierce  but  fruitless  can- 


332  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

nonaile,  to  storm  a  position  held  l)y  35,000  of  the  best 
Sikh  troops,  and  armed  with  G7  heavy  guns.  Under  a 
withering  fire  they  struggled  onwards,  recoiling  only  to 
renew  the  attack,  until  the  entrenchments  were  fairly  en- 
tered, and  the  Sikhs,  still  fighting  manfully,  were  driven 
back  before  the  British  bayonet. 

Ere  long  the  retreat  became  an  utter  rout.  The  English 
guns  played  havoc  among  the  masses  of  flying  Sikhs,  who 
crowded  towards  the  bridge  of  boats,  or  threw  themselves 
into  the  swollen  Satlaj.  A  river  red  with  blood  and 
choked  with  coi'pses  seemed  more  than  a  figure  of  speech 
on  that  day  of  slaughter,  when  some  10,000  followers  of 
Go^ind  perished  in  the  field  or  in  their  fhght.  The  loss 
of  the  victors  in  killed  and  wounded  amounted  to  2,383  ; 
but  the  whole  of  the  enemy's  guns  and  stores  on  the  left 
bank  of  the  river  had  fallen  into  their  hands,  and  no  army 
now  stood  between  them  and  Labor. 

Ten  days  afterwards  the  victorious  Enghsh  were  en- 
camped in  view  of  the  Sikli  capital.  On  the  23rd  Fe- 
bruary, the  ministers  of  Dhulip  Singh  signed  the  treaty 
which  transferred  Jalandhar  and  the  Sikh  States  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Satlaj  to  English  rule,  and  bound  the 
Sikh  government  to  pay  a  heavy  fine  for  the  costs  of  the 
war.  It  was  afterwards  agreed  that  the  bulk  of  the  fine 
should  be  paid  oft'  by  the  sale  of  Kashmir  to  Giilab  Singh, 
the  Rajput  lord  of  Jammu,  who  had  borne  no  part  against 
us  in  the  late  struggle.  The  remnants  of  the  old  Khsilsa 
army  were  disbanded,  and  Labor  was  held  for  a  time  by 
English  troops.  Colonel  Henry  Lawrence,  who  had  been 
summoned  from  Nipid  on  the  death  of  the  gallant  Major 
Broadfoot,  was  appointed  to  act  for  the  Viceroy  at  the 
Labor  court. 

For  these  great  successes,  achieved  in  two  months,  the 
Governor-General  and  Sir  Hugh  Gough  were  raised  to  the 
peerage.  It  was  not  long  before  Lawrence  had  to  place  a 
cui-b  on  the  intrigues  of  the  Labor  government.     At  the 


LOUD  ELLENBOEOUGH  AND  LORD  HARDIXGE.     333 

head  of  10,000  of  our  late  foes,  he  forced  the  unruly 
Shaikh  Imam-ud-din  to  surrender  Kashmir  to  its  new 
master.  Lai  Singh,  the  Queen-mother's  favourite,  was 
removed  from  his  office  of  vizier  and  banished  to  Bauaras. 
Before  the  year's  end  the  treaty  of  Bhairowiil  made  Law- 
rence %-irtual  master  of  the  Panjab,  aided  by  a  council  of 
Sikh  Sardars  or  chiefs,  and  a  picked  stafi'  of  English  officers, 
who  looked  for  guidance  to  the  Resident  alone. 

Successful  in  war.  Lord  Hardinge  turned  his  attention 
to  works  of  peace.  The  crusade  against  Satti,  infanticide, 
and  slavery,  was  canied  with  good  results  into  the  domi- 
nions of  native  princes.  The  great  Ganges  canal,  or- 
dained by  Lord  Auckland  after  the  dreadful  famine  of 
1837,  and  suspended  by  Lord  Ellenborough,  was  pushed 
forward  in  the  spring  of  1846  with  renewed  vigom%  under 
the  able  management  of  Major  Cautley,  seconded  by  the 
zeal  of  Mr.  Thomason,  Lieutenant-Governor  of  the  North- 
western Provinces.  The  question  of  railways  in  India 
found  in  Lord  Hardinge  an  eager  advocate,  and  the  sur- 
veys for  two  great  lines  went  steadily  forward.  Private 
enterprise  opened  out  new  fields  of  trade  in  the  factories 
of  Western  India  and  the  tea-gardens  of  Assam.  To  the 
cause  of  native  education  Lord  Hardinge  proved  from  the 
tirst  an  enUghtened  friend.  New  schools  of  various  kinds 
were  opened  in  many  places  ;  and  the  new-born  native  im- 
pulse towards  wider  fields  of  learning  and  mental  growth 
was  encouraged  by  the  preference  given  in  the  public  ser- 
vice to  those  natives  who  had  passed  thi'ough  a  govern- 
ment school  or  college. 

A  few  local  disorders,  such  as  the  Mohammadan  plot  at 
Patna,  an  anti-Christian  riot  at  Tinivalli,  a  civil  war  in 
Bhopal,  armed  strife  in  Audh  and  the  Dakhan,  and  a 
rising  among  the  Khands  of  Giimsar,  marked  the  closing 
years  of  Lord  Hardinge's  government.  The  worst  of 
these,  however,  happened  in  native  states,  where  disorder 
was  still  the  nde  ;  and  the  Khand  rising  was  put  down 


834  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

with  little  bloodshed,  if  not  without  some  trouble  to  the 
troops  employed.  At  length,  in  March  1848,  Lord  Hard- 
inge  turned  his  face  homewards  amid  the  general  regret 
of  all  classes,  after  making  over  the  seals  of  office  to  his 
great  successor,  James  Ramsay,  Earl  of  Dalhousie. 


BOOK    VI. 

CONSOLIDATION   OF   ENGLISH    RULE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

LORD    DAIHODSIE. 1848-1856. 

When  Peel's  able  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade  arrived 
in  India  at  the  beginning  of  1848,  the  country  was  in 
almost  perfect  peace.  But  for  a  commercial  crisis  in  Cal- 
cutta and  a  flickering  little  war  in  the  Khand  jungles,  not 
a  cloud  appeared  on  the  political  horizon.  In  a  few 
months,  however,  aU  was  changed.  While  Colonel  Law- 
rence was  seeking  health  and  rest  in  England,  a  new 
storm  of  war  was  gathering  in  the  Panjab.  Mulraj,  the 
Governor  of  Miiltan,  had  agreed  to  resign  his  post ;  and 
Mr.  Vans  Agnew,  with  Lieutenant  Anderson  and  a  small 
body  of  Sikh  troops,  was  directed  by  the  Labor  Govern- 
ment to  instal  Khan  Singh  in  his  place.  But  the  two 
Englishmen  were  treacherously  attacked  in  Mulraj's  pre- 
sence, and  afterwards  foully  murdered  by  his  men. 

Sir  Frederick  Currie,  who  was  then  acting  for  Lawrence 
at  Labor,  instead  of  moving  troops  with  all  speed  to  the 
scene  of  outrage,  as  Lawrence  would  have  done,  awaited 
the  issue  of  an  appeal  for  help  to  the  Commander-in- 
Chief.  But  Lord  Gough  was  against  moving  a  large  force 
at  the  hottest  season  of  the  year ;  and  Lord  DaJhonsie, 


336  HISTORY    OF   lyDlA. 

being  new  to  office,  concurred  in  his  reasons  for  an  ill- 
timed  dela}-.  It  remained  for  one  of  Lawrence's  best 
subalterns,  the  young  Lieutenant  Edwardes,  who  was  en- 
gaged in  settling  the  province  of  Bannii  beyond  the  Indus, 
to  set  his  countrymen  an  example  of  prompt  action.  With 
the  help  of  his  own  le\-ies,  of  some  troops  under  Colonel 
Cortlandt,  and  of  others  presently  furnished  by  the  loyal 
Nawab  of  Bhawalpiir,  Edwardes  thrice  defeated  the  rebel 
Mulraj,  and  finally  shut  him  up  in  Multan. 

By  this  time  matters  in  the  Panjab  looked  so  serious, 
that  General  'WTiish  was  ordered  to  undertake  the  siege  of 
Mult;in  with  a  regular  force  of  eight  thousand  English  and 
Sepoys.  On  the  4th  September  he  pitched  his  camp 
before  that  city.  Edwardes's  little  army  had  already  been 
reinforced  by  a  few  thousand  Sikhs  under  the  Rajah  Sher 
Singh.  Hardly  had  the  siege  begun,  when  the  latter  made 
common  cause  with  the  rebels  and  marched  away  to  kindle 
fresh  revolts  elsewhere.  His  desertion  caused  the  suspen- 
sion of  the  siege,  pending  the  arrival  of  fresh  succours  from 
Bombay  and  Firozpiir. 

It  was  soon  evident  that  a  new  fight  for  empire  was  on 
our  hands.  The  Sikh  leaders  everywhere  joined  the 
revolt,  and  a  holy  war  was  proclaimed  against  the  infidel 
"  Faringi."  Nothing  remained  but  to  take  up  the  chal- 
lenge. "  The  Sikh  nation,"  said  Lord  Dalhousie  at  the 
farewell  banquet  given  him  at  Barrackpore,  "  has  called 
for  war,  and  on  my  word,  sirs,  they  shall  have  it  with  a 
vengeance."  While  he  hastened  up  the  country,  a  power- 
ful army  was  mustering  on  the  Satlaj  under  Lord  Gough. 
Its  march  did  not  begin  too  soon.  Sher  Singh  was  already 
menacing  Labor  with  a  large  army  of  the  veterans  who 
had  rallied  to  the  Khiilsa  war-cry ;  and  Dost  Mohammad 
was  bargaining  for  Peshawar  as  the  price  of  his  co-opera- 
tion with  our  Sikh  foes. 

On  the  27th  December,  Whish  was  enabled  to  renew 
the  siege  of  Miiltan.     On  the  22nd  January,  1849,  his 


LORD    DALHOOSIE.  337 

troops  stormed  the  city,  but  Mulraj  still  held  the  citadel 
with  the  obstinacy  of  despair.  At  last,  on  the  22nd 
January,  when  the  fortress  inside  had  become  a  mere 
wreck,  and  two  great  breaches  invited  an  easy  entrance  to 
our  troops,  he  and  the  remnant  of  his  brave  garrison  sur- 
rendered at  discretion. 

His  followers  were  allowed  to  go  their  own  way,  while 
Mulraj  himself  was  carried  off  a  close  prisoner,  to  await 
the  trial  which  ended  in  dooming  him  to  a  felon's  death. 
His  life,  howerer,  was  ultimately  spared,  but  death  alone 
cut  short  his  term  of  lifelong  imprisonment. 

Meanwhile  Lord  Gough  had  encountered  Sher  Singh  at 
Ramnagar  on  the  Chenab,  and  again  in  the  jungles  of 
Chilianwala  on  the  Jhilam.  The  repulse  of  the  Sikhs  at 
the  former  place  was  marred  by  the  headlong  valour  of 
Havelock's  dragoons,  many  of  whom,  with  their  brave 
leader  and  General  Cureton,  perished  in  vain  eflbrts  to  re- 
trieve their  blunder.  On  the  2nd  December  a  part  of 
Lord  Gough's  army  under  Sir  Joseph  Thackwell  crossed 
the  Chenab  higher  up  the  stream,  and  engaged  the  Sikhs  at 
Sadiilapur,  forcing  them  to  retreat  towards  the  Jhilam. 
Thither  Lord  Gough  slowly  foOowed  them,  until,  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  13th  January,  he  suddenly  felt  the  fire  of 
their  outposts  from  amidst  the  jungle  around  Chilianwala. 
It  was  late  in  the  day,  but  the  fiery  old  soldier  would  not 
wait  for  the  morrow.  His  troops,  about  11,000  strong, 
advanced  to  attack  some  80,000  Sikh  veterans  with  sixty 
guns  strongly  posted  on  the  plain  behind  a  thick  belt  of 
intervening  jungle. 

Before  night-fall  the  Sikhs  had  been  driven  back  to  the 
Jhilam  with  a  heavy  loss  in  men  and  guns.  But  the 
victors  also  had  sufiered  heavily.  One  brigade  of  Camp- 
bell's division  had  been  hurled  back  in  utter  disorder,* 
•  It  is  a  well-attested  fact  that  General  Campbell  made  his  division 
advance  through  the  jungle  with  unloaded  muskete.  One  brigade 
tmder  Colonel  Hoggan,  however,  advanced  firing,  and  swept  the  enemy 
before  them.     The  other  obeyed  the  order,  and  suffered  accordingly. 

z 


ggg  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

and  the  cavalry  on  the  right  wing  had  fled  in  sudden  and 
mysterious  panic  before  a  small  body  of  Sikh  horse.  The 
rest  of  the  troops,  however,  fought  with  their  wonted 
daring,  and  another  hour  of  daylight  would  probably  have 
renewed  the  slaughter  of  Sobraon.  But  night  came  on  ; 
our  troops  fell  back  a  little  for  want  of  water ;  and  the 
Sikhs,  returning  later  to  the  field,  cut  up  many  of  the 
wounded  and  carried  off  most  of  the  captured  guns. 
Twelve  only  were  secured  by  the  victors,  whose  own  loss 
in  killed  and  wounded  amounted  to  89  officers  and  2,357 
men,  besides  four  guns  and  three  sets  of  colours. 

For  several  weeks  the  two  armies  lay  abnost  withm 
si<»ht  of  each  other,  while  Lord  Gough  waited  for  rem- 
forcements  from  the  camp  of  General  Whish.  While  these 
were  yet  on  their  way,  the  Sikh  army  under  Sher  Smgh 
and  his  father  Chattar  Singh  marched  round  the  English 
General's  right  flank  towards  Labor.  But  the  blow  thus 
aimed  fell  short  of  its  mark.  British  troops  held  the  fords 
of  the  Chenab,  and  the  Sikhs  turned  off  to  take  up  a 
strong  position  on  the  plain  in  firont  of  Gujarat.  There 
with  50,000  men  and  sixty  guns,  the  Sikh  leaders  awaited 
the  final  onset  of  Gough's  army,  now  swollen  to  20,000 
men  and  a  hundred  guns. 

On  the  21st  February  the  fight  began  with  such  a  fire 
from  the  English  hea^j  guns  as  had  never  before  been 
witnessed  on  an  Indian  battle-field.  For  more  than  two 
hours  the  English  batteries,  light  and  heavy,  played  upon 
the  foe  with  ever-increasing  havoc.  At  last  the  Sikh  gun- 
ners who  had  manfully  returned  shot  for  shot,  slackened 
theii-  fire  and  began  t'o  tall  back.  The  British  infantry 
were  then  let  loose  upon  the  wavering  Sikhs.  One  of  Gil- 
bert's brigades  under  Godby  swept  forward  agamst  the 
strong  village  of  Kalra,  still  held  by  the  pick  of  the  Sikh 
infantry.  Under  a  scathing  fire  the  2nd  Europeans 
stormed  the  place,  while  a  smaUer  village  was  attacked 
and   carried    by   the    10th    foot.      A   spirited    charge    of 


LORD    DALHOUSIE.  339 

Malcolm's  Sindh  horse  ere  long  drove  the  best  of  the 
Sikh  cavalry  from  the  field.  Sir  Joseph  Thackwell  with 
the  whole  of  his  fine  cavalry  and  light  horse  guns  took  up 
the  pursuit  of  the  beaten  foe,  driving  them  before  him 
with  heavy  slaughter,  until  night  found  him  fifteen  miles 
from  the  field,  which  our  troops  had  won  with  a  loss  of 
less  than  800  men.  Fifty-three  guns,  many  standards, 
and  the  whole  of  the  enemy's  camp  betokened  the  com- 
pleteness of  a  victory  which  laid  the  Sikh  power  for  the 
last  time  in  the  dust. 

It  only  remained  to  gather  up  the  after-fruits  of  that 
day's  work.  Early  next  morning  Sir  Walter  Gilbert,  with 
12,000  men  and  forty  guns,  set  off  in  pursuit  of  Sher 
Singh's  broken  army.  The  chase  was  kept  up  with  so 
much  vigour,  that  by  the  middle  of  March  the  last  of  the 
Sikh  leaders  had  surrendered,  and  the  last  of  their  wearied 
soldiers  had  laid  down  their  arms  to  the  pursuing  column 
at  Riiwal  Pindi.  Fortj'-one  more  guns  were  added  to  the 
spoils  of  Miiltan  and  Gujarat,  and  Sher  Singh  was  carried 
ofl"  a  prisoner  to  Labor.  His  Afghan  allies,  who  had 
shared  the  disasters  of  Gujarat,  stiU  kept  ahead  of  their 
unwearied  pursuers  ;  but  only  a  few  hours  before  Gilbert 
reached  Peshawar,  they  fled  back,  as  it  was  said,  "  Uke 
dogs  "  into  the  mountain  passes  whence  they  had  ridden 
out  "  like  hons  "  a  few  months  before. 

On  the  29th  March  the  last  blow  was  struck  by  order  of 
Lord  Dalhousie  at  the  independence  of  the  Sikh  kingdom. 
In  the  presence  of  the  boy-sovereign,  Dhulip  Singh,  was 
read  the  proclamation  which  made  him  a  pensioner  of  the 
East  India  Company,  and  annexed  his  country  to  British 
India.  The  conquered  province  passed  under  the  rule  of 
a  Board  of  Three,  at  the  head  of  which  Sir  Henry  Law- 
rence, who  had  come  out  again  from  England  with  a 
knighthood,  deservedly  took  his  place.  Conspicuous 
among  his  colleagues  was  his  brother  John  Lawrence,  who, 
with  the  aid  of  a  few  irregular  troops  and  Sikh  levies,  had 
z  2 


340  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

kept  Jalandhar  in  comparative  quiet  during  the  war.  For 
the  next  few  years  the  two  brothers,  -with  the  help  of  Mr. 
Mansel,  and  afterwards  of  Mr.  Montgomery,  ruled  the 
Panjab  with  light  but  firm  hands,  restoring  order,  sup- 
pressing crime,  revising  the  revenue  system,  enforcing  a 
simple  code  of  laws,  freeing  the  trade  of  the  country  from 
its  former  shackles,  making  roads,  canals,  and  other  useful 
■works,  and  wiBning  alike  the  respect  and  the  affections  of 
a  conquered  but  brave  and  high-spirited  people.  Sir 
Henry's  mild  influence  fell  like  balm  on  the  hearts  of  the 
humbled  Sikh  Sardars,  and  did  much  to  counteract  the 
harsher  tendencies  of  a  rule  which  recognised  no  distinc- 
tion between  class  and  class  in  respect  of  their  common 
rights,  duties,  and  burdens.  To  the  Marquis  of  Dalhousie 
— for  such  he  had  now  become — belongs  much  of  the 
credit  due  to  all  concerned  in  the  pacification  of  the  Pan- 
jab. His  eyes  were  everywhere  during  his  frequent 
travels  through  the  country ;  no  details  of  government 
were  too  small  to  escape  his  notice  ;  and  the  measures 
taken  for  guarding  the  Panjab  frontier  were  the  direct 
oflspring  of  his  own  brain. 

Meanwhile  the  new  Commander-in-Chief,  Sir  Charles 
Napier,  was  dealing  in  his  own  stem  fashion  with  a 
mutiny  among  the  Bengal  regiments  told  off  to  garrison 
the  new  province.  Some  of  them  had  refused  to  take 
their  ordinary  pay,  and  the  66th  Sepoys  went  so  far 
towards  open  mutiny,  that  Napier  took  upon  himself  to 
disband  the  regiment  and  put  a  Gurkha  battalion  in  its 
place.  This  and  other  measures,  decreed  by  him  on  his 
own  authority,  brought  him  into  collision  with  the 
Governor-General,  who  had  no  mind  to  let  another  usurp 
his  lawful  power.  The  quarrel  ended  in  Napier's  resigna- 
tion ;  but  the  mutinous  spirit  which  had  been  rife  in  the 
Bengal  army  ever  since  the  Afghan  wai's  kept  smouldering 
beneath  the  surface,  ready  to  burst  forth  again  on  the 
smallest  provocation.     The  government  saw  no  pressing 


LORD    DALHOUSIE.  341 

danger,  aud  Dehli,  the  great  centre  of  Mussulman  intrigue 
and  the  chief  arsenal  for  Upper  India,  was  still  left  under 
the  sole  protection  of  Sepoy  bayonets. 

In  1852  another  war  was  forced  on  Lord  Dalhonsie's 
hands  by  the  continued  insolence  of  the  Bunnese.  The 
rude  treatment  of  English  Eesidents  at  Ava  had  been  fol- 
lowed by  a  series  of  outrages  on  English  merchants  and 
shipping  at  Rangoon.  Dalhousie's  demands  for  redress 
were  made  in  vain,  and  those  who  bore  them  subjected  to 
open  insult.  At  length  Commodore  Lambert  was  driven 
to  blockade  Kangoon  and  silence  the  batteries  which  had 
opened  fire  on  his  frigate.  DaUiousie  at  once  prepared 
for  war.  On  the  2nd  April,  1852,  a  powerful  British  fleet, 
including  many  war-steamers,  and  carrying  a  strong  force 
under  General  Godwin,  anchored  off  Rangoon.  Martaban, 
on  the  Salwin  river,  had  already  been  attacked  and  taken 
by  Bengal  Sepoys.  Before  the  middle  of  April  the  Eng- 
lish, in  spite  of  a  brave  resistance,  were  masters  of  Ran- 
goon itself.  Bassein  was  taken  in  May,  and  Pegu  in  June. 
The  road  to  Ava  lay  open  ;  but  Godwin  declined  to  ex- 
pose his  small  force  to  the  risks  and  discomforts  of  the 
rainy  season. 

His  advance  to  Prome  in  October,  and  the  reUef  of  Hill's 
small  gaiT-ison  in  Pegu,  were  followed  early  in  the  next 
year  by  the  capture  of  Donabyii  and  the  rout  of  the  Bur- 
man  leader,  Mia- Tim,  by  Sir  John  Cheape.  Thenceforth 
the  war  was  virtually  over.  With  the  whole  province  of 
Pegu  occupied  by  our  troops,  it  was  deemed  needless  to 
push  on  after  an  enemy  who  declined  to  fight.  To  nego- 
tiate with  the  King;  of  Burmah  proved  to  be  a  waste  of 
time  and  words.  The  Peguers  on  their  part  seemed  per- 
fectly willing  to  exchange  the  Barman  for  the  British  yoke. 
Dalhousie,  therefore,  boldly  resolved  to  fill  up  the  British 
seaboard  between  Arakan  and  Tenasserim  by  the  annexa- 
tion of  Pegu,  with  or  without  the  consent  of  the  Burman 
sovereign.     His  intention  indeed  had  alreadv  been  made 


812  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

public  in  December,  1852  ;  but  it  was  not  until  the  follow- 
ing June,  when  the  obstinate  King  of  Burmah  had  virtually 
yielded  to  all  our  demands,  that  peace  was  finally  pro- 
claimed and  Pegu  freed  from  all  fear  of  Burman  aggression. 
While  the  conquest  of  the  Panjab  brought  all  India 
within  the  Sulaiman  HiUs  and  the  Himalayas  under  our 
virtual  rule,  the  annexation  of  Pegu  made  the  Company 
masters  of  all  the  coast  country  on  the  eastern  side  of  the 
Bay  of  Bengal,  from  Chittagong  to  the  borders  of  Siam. 
Under  the  wise  rule  of  Colonel  PhajTe,  Pegu  itself  became 
a  model  province,  easily  held  by  a  few  troops,  its  people 
steadily  advancing  in  wealth  and  numbers,  and  its  chief 
port  on  the  Irawadi  becoming  ere  long  the  populous  seat 
of  a  thriving  trade. 

Meanwhile  the  work  of  annexation  had  been  going  on 
within  the  bounds  of  our  Indian  empire.  In  1848  the 
Eajah  of  Satara  died  without  an  heir.  Was  the  boy  whom, 
according  to  Hindu  custom,  he  had  adopted  two  hours 
before  his  own  death  to  be  recognised  as  his  successor  to 
kingly  title  and  power,  as  well  as  to  all  his  personal  estate  ? 
In  spite  of  the  arguments  of  Sir  George  Clerk,  then 
Governor  of  Bombay,  Lord  DaUiousie  held  that  the 
government  was  not  bound  to  accept  the  consequences  of 
an  act  whose  validity  it  had  never  acknowledged.  The 
State  of  Satara,  as  created  by  an  Enghsh  viceroy,  had 
lapsed  to  the  Company  tlirough  default  of  heirs ;  and 
the  government  was  "  bound  to  take  that  which  was 
legally  and  justly'  its  due,  and  to  extend  to  that  ten-itory 
the  benefit  of  our  sovereignty,  present  and  prospective." 
Armed  with  the  approval  of  the  India  House,  Dalhousie 
struck  Satara  out  of  the  list  of  native  states,  bestowing 
liberal  pensions  on  the  Rajah's  widows  and  his  adopted 
son. 

Five  years  later  died  the  Bhosla  Rajah  of  Berar  or 
Nagpur  and  the  Rajah  of  Jhansi  in  Bundalkhand.  As  the 
former  had  neither  left  nor  named  a  successor,  and  the 


LOED    DALHOUSIE. 


843 


people  under  the  fostering  care  of  Mr.  Jenkins  had  learned 
to  value  aright  the  benefits  of  our  rule,  Nagjjiir  also  was 
speedUy  annexed.  The  ruler  of  Jhansi,  on  the  other 
hand,  had  left  an  adopted  heir,  in  whose  name  his  widow 
claimed  to  govern.  But  the  absorption  of  Satara  furnished 
the  Governor-General  ^vith  ample  gi-ounds  for  rejecting 
her  claims,  and  placing  Jhansi  also  directly  under  British 
rule.  The  Rani,  an  ambitious  woman,  brooded  in  secret 
over  the  imagined  wrong,  until  the  moment  for  taking  a 
tenible  revenge  seemed  to  have  come. 

Karauh,  in  Eajputiina,  was  another  state  whose  sove- 
reign had  left  no  direct  heir.  But  the  question  of  its 
disposal  was  referred  to  the  Court  of  Directors,  who 
decided  in  favoui'  of  acknowledging  the  adopted  son  of  a 
protected  ally.  Another  question  which  came  before  Lord 
Dalhousie  concerned  the  claim  of  Dhundii  Pant,  the 
infamous  Nana  Sahib  of  after  years,  to  the  handsome  pen- 
sion which  Lord  Hastings  had  bestowed  on  his  adoptive 
father,  the  erewhile  Peshwa  Baji  Rao.  It  was  decreed  on 
just,  if  not  politic  grounds,  that  the  ex-Peshwa's  princely 
income  had  lapsed  to  the  Company  on  his  death  in  1853. 
In  vain  did  the  angry  Nana  plead  his  cause  at  the  India 
House.  It  was  decided  that  he  had  no  claim  to  a  pension 
granted  only  to  Baji  Rao  and  his  family;  but  by  way  of 
balm  for  his  wounded  feelings,  he  was  allowed  to  hold  the 
lordship  of  Bithiir,  on  the  Ganges,  not  far  from  Cawn- 
pore. 

About  this  time  also  the  Nizam's  province  of  Berar  was 
virtually  transfeiTed  to  British  rule  in  payment  of  the 
heavy  debts  he  had  incurred  to  the  Indian  Government. 
To  this  concession  the  Nizam  unwillingly  agreed  as  the 
only  means  of  retaining  the  services  of  his  useful  but  ill- 
paid  contingent.  The  weak-minded  successor  of  Chin 
Kilich  was  thus  rescued  from  the  worst  results  of  a  mis- 
rule prolonged  for  many  yeai-s  past ;  while  the  ceded  pro- 
vince, over  which  he  still  retained  a  portion  of  his  sove- 


344  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

reign  rights,  throve  apace  under  a  rule  which  brooks  no 
internal  disorders,  and  has  always  laboured  for  the  well- 
being  of  the  people  at  large. 

Three  years  later,  in  1856,  the  dethroned  Rajah  of 
Maisor  renewed  his  prayer  for  restoration  to  the  govern- 
ment of  which  he  had  been  justly  deprived  in  1831. 
Through  aU  that  time  his  forfeit  kingdom  had  been  ably 
governed  by  General  Mark  Cubbon,  in  spite  of  some 
resistance  from  the  Rajah's  friends.  Lord  Dalhousie  saw 
no  good  reason  to  grant  a  prayer  which  Lord  Hardinge 
had  found  good  reason  to  reject ;  and  it  was  not  till  ten 
years  later  that  an  English  minister  was  rash  enough  to 
reverse  the  wiser  policy  of  successive  governors-general, 
and  hand  over  a  flourishing  province  to  the  doubtful 
blessings  of  native  rule. 

Meantime  the  misrule  in  Audh  had  been  growing 
yearly  worse  and  worse,  ever  since  Lord  William  Bentinck 
had  solemnly  warned  the  king  of  the  Company's  firm 
resolve  to  interfere,  if  he  made  no  effort  to  mend  his  ways 
and  govern  his  people  in  closer  harmony  with  the  counsels 
of  the  EngUsh  Resident.  In  1847  the  warning  was 
repeated  by  Lord  Hardinge.  But  the  long-sufl'ering  of 
the  Indian  Government  proved  of  no  avail.  The  king 
amassed  money  at  the  expense  of  his  subjects,  only  to 
waste  it  on  women,  fiddlers,  and  bufi'oons.  Justice  was 
openly  bought  and  sold.  The  great  land-holders,  hke 
many  a  baron  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  Europe,  openly 
defied  the  royal  power  from  their  well-armed  forts,  and 
throve  on  the  plunder  of  their  weaker  countrymen.  The 
king's  troops  made  up  for  their  scanty  and  irregular  pay 
by  li\'ing  freely  on  the  people  they  were  supposed  to 
protect.  The  Resident,  Colonel  Sleeman  himself,  for 
all  his  sympathy  with  native  princes,  avowed  that  the 
misgovemment  had  reached  an  unbearable  pitch,  and 
advised  his  masters  to  place  the  country  under  British 
rule.     His  successor,  the  high-souled   General   Outram, 


LORD    DALHOUSIE.  845 

pronounced  in  favour  of  a  like  course.  All  the  best- 
informed  statesmen  in  India  argued  to  the  same  efl'ect. 

It  only  remained  to  settle  the  conditions  on  which 
English  rule  sho'ild  be  established  in  Audh.  On  this 
point  Lord  Dalhousie  was  nearly  at  one  with  Colonel 
Sleeman.  Both  agreed  in  wishing  to  leave  the  king  his 
nominal  sovereignty,  but  the  Governor-General  was  for 
employing  the  surplus  revenues  that  might  accrue  to  him 
under  the  new  form  of  government,  not  for  the  king's 
benefit,  but  for  that  of  India  at  large.  Some  members 
of  his  Council  argued  strongly  for  the  entire  absorption 
of  Audh  in  British  India,  and  their  views  found  most 
favour  with  the  Government  at  home.  In  compliance 
with  positive  orders  from  the  India  House,  Lord  Dalhousie 
prepared  to  annex  the  country,  and  dethrone  the  dj-nasty 
which  Lord  Hastings  had  set  up.  On  the  7th  February, 
1856,  Sir  James  Outram  announced  to  the  king  that  he 
had  ceased  to  reign.  The  tidings  were  received  with  a 
burst  of  tears,  and  a  flat  refusal  to  sign  the  treatj'  which 
transformed  him  into  a  discrowned  pensioner  of  the 
Indian  Government.  It  was  useless,  however,  to  struggle 
against  his  fate.  He  withdrew  to  Calcutta  on  a  handsome 
pension,  and  the  whole  kingdom  submitted  without  a  blow 
to  its  future  m'asters. 

A  few  months  earlier,  in  July,  1855,  the  peace  of 
Bengal  had  been  broken  by  a  sudden  rising  of  abori- 
ginal Santals  in  the  hill  ranges  of  Rajmahal.  Maddened 
by  the  extortions  of  Bengali  money-lenders,  who  worked 
the  law-courts  for  their  own  ends,  these  simple  savages 
marched  forth  in  a  vast  body  to  lay  their  grievances  before 
the  Calcutta  Council.  Provisions  failing  them,  they  began 
to  plunder  the  villages  on  their  way,  to  attack  police-posts, 
to  murder  native  officials  and  stray  Englishmen,  and  even 
to  threaten  the  safety  of  important  stations.  The  few 
troops  that  first  encountered  them  were  driven  back  or 
slain  by  their  poisoned  arrows.     It  was  not  till  the  cold 


34(5 


HISTOEY    OF    INDIA. 


season  of  1855  that  their  power  for  mischief  was  checked 
by  the  advance  of  fresh  troops,  who  hemmed  them  in  on 
all  sides,  and  hunted  them  down  with  little  mercj-.  By 
the  year's  end  the  rising  had  been  quelled  with  the  death 
of  its  ringleaders  ;  and  the  wrongs  for  which  they  had 
sought  so  wild  a  redress  were  shortly  remedied  by  the 
appointment  of  a  Commissioner,  who   ruled  the   Santal 


UUVEUNJlKNr    tlOL'SL.    CAI.CLITA. 


districts   on  a  simpler  system  than  that  which  had  long 
prevailed  throughout  Bengal. 

We  have  yet  to  mention  those  peaceful  services  which 
have  shed  so  bright  a  lustre  on  Lord  DaUiousie's  Indian 
career.  No  Governor-General  has  ever  been  so  fortunate 
in  his  opportunities,  or  so  successful  in  turning  them  to 
account.  His  genius  for  governing  embraced  a  rare 
mastery  of  details,  a  clear  conception  of  the  work  that 


LORD    DALHOUSIE.  347 

lay  before  him,  a  thorough  knowledge  of  bis  tools,  and 
a  strength  of  will  which  triumphed  over  the  drawbacks  of 
a  sickly  frame  yet  further  enfeebled  by  prolonged  toil  in 
a  very  trying  chmate.  In  every  department  of  the  State 
his  strong  hand  wrought  some  change  for  the  better. 
Both  in  the  army  and  the  civil  service  individual  over- 
looking was  substituted  for  that  of  Boards ;  even  the 
Panjiib  Board  under  Sir  Henry  Lawrence  giving  place 
in  1853  to  the  rule  of  a  Chief  Commissioner,  Sir  Henry's 
brother  John.  In  1852  was  established  a  new  Department 
of  Public  Works,  which  furnished  India  with  a  staff  of 
civil  engineers  fit  to  carry  on  the  gi'eat  projects  which  a 
time  of  peace  and  a  full  treasury  encouraged  Dalhousie 
to  set  on  foot  or  bring  to  an  early  completion.  The 
greatest  of  these  was  the  Ganges  Canal,  perhaps  the 
noblest  work  of  its  Idnd  in  the  world,  with  its  five  hundred 
miles  of  navigable  main  stream  and  many  hundreds  of 
irrigating  branches.  Thanks  to  Lord  Dalhousie's  unwearied 
efforts,  the  waters  of  the  Upper  Ganges  were  let  into  this 
mighty  work  on  the  8th  April,  1854,  amid  crowds  of 
wondering  natives ;  and  its  chief  engineer.  Colonel  Cautley, 
received  the  Kiband  of  the  Bath  for  his  success  in  carrying 
out  the  scheme  which  he  himself  had  planned  fifteen  years 
before.  Of  only  less  importance  was  the  network  of 
canals  which  Colonel  Napier  had  meanwhile  begun  to 
weave  for  the  parched  but  not  unfruitful  plains  of  the 
Panjub. 

Dalhousie's  name,  indeed,  is  inseparably  linked  with 
the  whole  history  of  India's  progress  during  the  last 
twenty-five  years.  To  him  India  owes  the  removal  or  the 
lowering  of  almost  every  remaining  barrier  to  trade, 
industry,  social  well-being,  and  mental  growth.  From 
the  planting  of  trees  in  dry  places  to  the  building  of 
railways,  from  reforms  in  jail  discipKne  to  the  diffusion 
of  aids  to  knowledge  among  the  people,  nothing  seemed 
too  small  or  too  gi'eat  for  his  far-reaching  powers.     He 


848  HISTORY    OF   INDIA. 

was  the  first  to  endow  India  with  a  cheap  uniform  rate  of 
postage,  whereby  a  letter  from  Peshawar  to  Cape  Comorin, 
or  from  Arakiin  to  Karachi,  could  be  carried  for  half  an 
anna,  or  three  farthings.  Under  his  zealous  encourage- 
ment Dr.  O'Shaughnessy  was  enabled  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years  to  cover  India  with  4,000  miles  of  telegraph  wires. 
Dalhousie  succeeded  in  cheapening  the  rates  of  postage 
from  England  to  India.  Under  his  orders  the  first  yearly 
reports  were  sent  in  from  the  heads  of  every  province 
on  all  things  connected  with  its  administration.  To  him 
also  India  owes  the  general  planning  and  first  instalments 
of  those  4,000  miles  of  railway  which  now  join  Bombay 
to  Madras,  Calcutta,  Allahabad,  and  Labor.  To  the 
scheme  of  cheap  popular  instruction  which  Mr.  Thomason 
first  set  on  foot  in  the  North-Western  Provinces  he  lent 
his  eager  countenance  ;  and,  fortified  by  Sir  Charles 
Wood's  Education  Despatch  of  1854,  he  began  at  once  to 
organise  that  improved  system  of  State-aided  schools  and 
colleges  under  which  nearly  a  million  scholars  are  now 
taught,  at  a  yearly  cost  of  as  many  pounds  to  the  State. 

In  1853  the  question  of  renewing  the  East  India 
Company's  Charter  was  again  the  subject  of  parhamentary 
debate,  which  resulted  as  before  in  fresh  curtaOments  of 
the  Company's  power.  The  days  of  its  rule  were,  in 
fact,  already  numbered.  Of  the  eighteen  members  of  the 
Court  of  Directors,  six  were  henceforth  to  be  chosen  by 
the  Crown.  India  might  still  be  governed  in  the  name  of 
the  Company,  but  all  power  became  practically  vested  in 
the  Board  of  Control.  A  heavy  blow  was  dealt  at  the 
Company's  patronage  by  an  Act  which  opened  the  Civil 
Service  of  India  to  public  competition.  A  heavy  burden, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  taken  ofi'  the  shoulders  of 
the  Governor-General  by  the  arrangement  which  gave  a 
Lieutenant-Governor  to  the  populous  province  of  Bengal 
Proper.  New  members  with  enlarged  powers  were  also 
added  to  the  Supreme  Council  in  Calcutta. 


LORD    DALHOnSIE.  349 

With  the  annexation  of  Audi  Dalhousie's  term  of  office, 
twice  prolonged  by  the  Court  of  Directors,  came  to  a 
glorious,  but  for  him  mneh-needed  end.  Worn  out  with 
eight  yeai's  of  hard  work,  the  great  marquis  gave  the  last 
touches  to  that  farewell  minute — the  master  work  of  a  pen 
as  clear,  direct,  and  polished  as  Caesar's  or  Welhngton's — 
which  contains  at  once  the  history  and  the  best  defence 
of  his  memorable  career.  In  another  set  of  minutes  he 
enlarged  on  the  policy  of  reducing  the  overgrown  Sepoy 
army  and  strengthening  the  European  force  in  India. 
At  length,  on  the  Gth  March,  1856,  he  embarked  for 
England,  followed  by  impressive  tokens  of  the  esteem 
and  admiration  which  all  classes  had  learned  to  feel  for 
the  greatest  of  Indian  rulers  since  Warren  Hastings. 
But  his  part  in  life,  as  he  himself  declared,  was  already 
played  out ;  and  the  death  which  awaited  him  in  1860 
was  even  then  written  on  the  face  of  one  who  had  landed 
in  India  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-six. 


350 


CHAPTER   II. 

LORD    CANNING 1856-1862. 

Lord  Canning,  son  of  the  great  English  Minister  whom 
Pitt  had  first  brought  into  notice,  found  India  for  the 
moment  in  perfect  peace.  To  follow  in  the  footsteps  of 
his  great  predecessor,  and  carry  forward  his  unfinished 
schemes  for  the  good  of  the  people,  was  all  the  task  which 
seemed  then  cut  out  for  the  erewhile  Postmaster-General 
of  Great  Britain.  The  Penal  Code,  in  which  Macaulay 
had  sought  to  furnish  a  simple  uniform  system  of  law  for 
all  creeds  and  classes  in  India,  was  entrusted  to  the  re- 
vising hands  of  another  great  jurist,  Mr.  Barnes  Peacock. 
Kecruits  for  the  Bengal  army  were  henceforth  required  to 
take  the  same  oath  of  general  service  as  their  brethren  in 
Bombay  and  Madras  ;  a  measure  intended,  like  the  intro- 
duction of  Sikh  recruits  into  Bengal  regiments  under  Lord 
DaUiousie,  to  counteract  the  domineering  spirit  of  the 
high-caste  Sepoys  in  Bengal.  Dalhousie's  scheme  for 
removing  the  Moghal  princes  from  Dehli  on  the  death  of 
the  reigning  king,  Bahadur  Shah,  was  fm-thered  by  the 
recognition  of  his  lawful  heir,  on  terms  which  expelled  the 
dynasty  of  Timiir  from  the  palace  where  they  had  hitherto 
retained  a  certain  semblance  of  independent  power. 

By  this  time,  however.  Lord  Canning's  attention  was 
turned  towards  Persia,  whose  sovereign,  in  breach  of  for- 
mer treaties,  had  sent  an  army  to  capture  Herat  from  the 
Afghans.  In  obedience  to  orders  from  home,  the  Gover- 
nor-General prepared  for  war.  Early  in  December,  1856, 
a  British  force  under  the  brave  General  Outram,  aided  by 


LORD    CANNING.  351 

the  fire  of  Leeke's  ships,  gained  swift  possession  of  Bnshir, 
on  the  Persian  Gulf.  Ere  long  a  Persian  army  began  its 
march  towards  the  conquered  place  ;  but  Outram  hastened 
forward  to  stay  its  approach,  and  its  retreat  from  Barasjiin 
on  the  5th  Februai-y  was  followed  by  its  utter  rout  on 
the  8th  at  Khiishab.  The  strong  fort  of  Mohamrah,  on 
a  branch  of  the  Euphrates,  was  easily  taken  on  the  26th 
Mai'ch  ;  and  the  flight  of  the  Persians  a  few  days  later 
from  Ahwaz  may  be  said  to  have  finished  the  campaign. 
Its  close  was  doubtless  hastened  by  the  treaty  of  alhance 
which  Sir  John  Lawrence,  Sir  Henry's  fit  successor  in 
the  government  of  the  Panjab,  had  formed  with  our  old 
foe.  Dost  Mohammad,, in  January,  1857.  By  the  Treaty 
of  Paris,  which  had  already  been  signed  on  the  4th  March, 
the  Shah  of  Persia  pledged  himself  to  withdraw  his 
troops  from  Herat  and  renounce  all  claim  to  sovereignty 
over  any  part  of  Afghanistan. 

It  was  a  happy  thing  for  India  that  the  war  ended 
when  it  did,  in  good  time  to  enable  Lord  Canning  to 
meet  the  heaviest  blow  which  has  ever  yet  been  struck 
at  English  supremacy  in  Hindustan.  By  whom  that  blow 
was  planned  is  still  matter  for  conjectiu-e  ;  but  there  is 
ample  evidence  that  a  spii-it  of  unrest  was  abroad  through- 
out the  country  in  the  beginning  of  1857,  that  rumours 
of  evil  bode  to  India's  rulers  were  everywhere  rife,  and 
that  many  causes  combined  to  bring  about  the  disaster  to 
which  those  rumours  seemed  to  point.  It  is  always 
difficult  for  foreign  rulers  to  guess  at  what  is  passing 
through  the  minds  of  their  subjects ;  and  the  gulf  which 
parts  our  countrjonen  in  India  from  the  millions  among 
whom  they  come  and  go  is  one  which  few  EngUshmen 
can  quite  bridge  over.  Some  of  them,  indeed,  were 
warned  of  mischief  brewing,  but  few  even  of  these  paid 
any  heed  to  the  hints  or  counsels  of  their  native  friends, 
and  those  who  smelt  danger  beneath  the  surface  found 
small  encouragement  to  speak  out. 


352  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

In  the  Imperial  Palace  at  Dehli,  in  the  Nana's  castle 
at  Bithiir,  in  the  pleasant  quarters  occupied  near  Calcutta 
by  the  deposed  King  of  Audh,  in  every  place  where 
people  cherished  a  grudge  against  their  Enghsh  rulers 
for  some  real  or  fancied  wrong,  plots  were  quietly 
hatching  against  the  Power  which,  according  to  native 
soothsayers,  had  already  entered  on  the  last  year  of  its 
reign.  Emissaries  from  native  courts  were  roaming  the 
couutry,  inflaming  the  minds  of  the  discontented,  and 
spreading  everywhere  dark  rumours,  none  the  less  potent 
for  their  general  absurdity,  of  a  great  English  plot  for 
abolishing  caste  and  converting  the  whole  of  India,  by 
fraud  or  force,  to  its  masters'  creed.  The  air  grew  thick 
with  falsehoods,  none  of  which  was  too  wild  for  the 
popular  belief.  The  fears  alike  of  the  Hindu  and  the 
Mohammadan  were  fed  with  omens  and  idle  tales.  An 
outbreak  of  cholera,  a  bad  harvest,  a  jail  riot,  a  heavy 
flood,  an^'thing  served  as  a  handle  for  the  most  outrageous 
slanders  against  a  Government  guilty  only  of  a  well-meant 
desire  to  keep  the  peace,  to  advance  the  general  welfare, 
and  to  imbue  its  subjects  with  a  taste  for  Western 
civilisation. 

The  time  seemed  propitious  to  oui'  foes  in  India.  Our 
EngHsh  garrisons  had  been  weakened  to  fiutdsh  troops 
for  the  campaign  against  Russia  in  the  Crimea ;  nor  was 
their  place  filled  up  by  other  troops  from  England,  in 
spite  of  the  warnings  uttered  by  Dalhousie  before  and 
after  the  annexation  of  Audh.  Fresh  regiments  were 
shipped  off  from  India  for  the  Persian  war.  It  was 
given  out  by  the  Nana's  emissaries  that  our  army  in  the 
Crimea  had  perished  almost  to  a  man,  and  that  England 
needed  every  soldier  she  could  muster  for  her  own 
defence,  to  say  nothing  of  fresh  embarrassments  caused 
by  another  Chinese  war.  It  was  certain  that  only  one 
Enghsh  regiment  lay  between  Calcutta  and  Agi-a,  and 
that  all  India  was  held  at  that  moment  by  about  thirty 


LOKD    CANNING.  353 

thousand  English  troops,  more  than  half  of  whom  were 
quartered  in  or  near  the  Panjab. 

The  Sepoys  also  in  Bengal  were  growing  restless. 
Their  discipline  had  been  weakened  by  doubtful  measures 
of  mihtai-y  refonn,  by  the  moral  effects  of  Afghan  and 
Sikh  campaigns,  by  the  growth  of  new  social  habits  among 
their  English  officers  ;  their  caste  pride  was  sorely  hurt 
by  the  admission  of  Sikhs  and  other  low-caste  men  into 
their  ranks,  and  their  prescriptive  rights  were  scattered 
to  the  winds  by  the  new  rule  which  compelled  all  recruits 
to  enlist  for  general  service,  whether  by  land  or  sea. 
While  the  Nana's  agents  tampered  with  the  Hindu 
Sepoys,  the  minds  of  the  Mussulman  soldiery  were 
inflamed  against  their  masters  by  the  preacliing  of 
Wahabi  fanatics  and  the  intrigues  of  the  Dehli  princes, 
wroth  at  their  coming  expulsion  from  the  seat  of  their 
forefathers. 

About  the  beginning  of  1857  a  new  cause  of  alarm 
began  to  spread  among  the  Sepoys.  A  rumour,  born  of 
chance  gossip  in  the  Dam-dam  Bazaar,  flew  about  the 
country,  declaring  that  the  cartridges  of  the  new  Enfield 
rifles  had  been  carefully  greased  with  the  fat  of  pigs  and 
cows,  in  order  to  bring  about  the  defilement  alike  of 
Mohammadans  and  Hindus.  Before  the  end  of  January 
the  Sepoys  in  Barrackpore  were  holding  nightly  meetings 
on  the  subject ;  several  bungalows*  were  set  on  fire,  and 
a  marked  change  was  seen  in  the  men's  bearing  towards 
their  ofiicers.  The  same  tlung  occurred  at  Raniganj,  the 
furthermost  station  on  the  new  railway.  On  the  26th 
February,  the  19th  Sepoys  at  Barhampur  refused  to 
receive  the  suspected  cartridges,  and  were  hardly  restrained 
from  firing  on  their  own  ofiicers.  The  mutiny  was  queUed, 
but  no  mercy  was  shown  to  the  mutineers,  who  were 
marched  down  to  Barrackpore  and  there  disbanded  by 
General  Hearsey,  in  the  presence  of  comrades  no  less 
*  One-etoried  hoHses  with  steep  roofs  of  thatch  or  tiles. 

2a 


854  HISTOKY    OF    INDIA. 

guilty  in  spirit  than  themselves.  Two  days  earlier,  on 
the  29th  March,  a  Sepoy  of  the  34th  N.I.  at  Barrackpore 
seized  his  musket  and  called  on  some  of  his  comrades  to 
rally  round  him  in  defence  of  their  religion.  He  attacked 
and  wounded  two  officers  before  help  came,  which  led  him 
to  turn  his  weapon  against  himself.  The  wound,  however, 
was  not  fatal ;  he  lived  to  undergo  his  trial  and  be  hanged 
a  few  weeks  afterwards. 

All  through  March  and  April  the  tokens  of  disaffection 
grew  more  and  more  rife.  Night  after  night  fresh  fires, 
whose  origin  remained  a  mystery,  broke  out  in  the  great 
northern  station  of  Ambala  ;  and  the  men  who  handled 
the  new  cartridges  were  marked  out  for  the  jeers  and 
persecutions  of  their  numerous  comrades.*  In  Meerut 
the  Sepoys  readily  came  to  believe  that  the  weUs  had 
been  defiled,  that  animal  fat  had  been  boiled  up  with  the 
ghee,  or  liquid  butter,  sold  in  the  bazaars,  and  that  ground 
bones  had  been  mixed  up  with  the  flour  they  ate.  Mean- 
while all  over  India  a  mysterious  signal,  in  the  shape  of 
a  chajMithi,  or  flat  cake  of  flour,  was  passed  ou  from 
village  to  village,  like  the  fiery  cross  in  Scotch  history, 
as  if  to  prepare  men's  minds  for  some  great  scheme  on 
foot. 

In  April  the  disafiection  spread  to  Audh,  where  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence  had  taken  up  the  post  of  Chief  Com- 
missioner in  the  room  of  Mr.  Coverley  Jackson.  It  was 
too  late  even  for  the  successful  ruler  of  the  Panjab  to 
repair  the  mischief  done  by  his  predecessor,  or  to  avert 
the  great  storm  of  mutiny  and  rebellion  whose  warning 
murmurs  were  already  falling  on  men's  ears.  On  the 
2nd  May  a  native  regiment  quartered  near  Lueknow  broke 

*  It  seems  that  beef  fat  had  really  been  used  in  greaslnjj  the  cart- 
ridges ;  but  the  use  of  these  was  countermanded  hy  the  end  of 
January  ;  the  Sepoys  were  then  allowed  to  pre.ise  their  ovn  cartridcres, 
and  to  tear  off  the  end^  instead  of  biting  them  off  with  their  teeth. 
See  Incidents  of  fhe  Sepoy  War,  by  Sir  Hope  Grant  and  Captain 
KnoUys.    Blackwood  it  Sons :  18;3. 


LORD    CA-NNrNG.  355 

ont  into  open  mutiny.  Sir  Henry's  prompt  advance 
scattered  the  mutineers,  some  forty-five  of  whom  were 
seized,  tried,  and  sentenced  to  imprisonment  for  various 
terms.  For  some  weeks  longer  all  seemed  quiet  in 
Lucknow ;  but  the  frequent  firing  of  bungalows  and 
Sepoys'  huts  warned  Sir  Henry  against  setting  too  much 
faith  in  passing  appearances  and  the  soothing  magic  even 
of  his  own  high  name. 

At  last,  on  the  10th  May,  the  storm  burst  over  Meerut, 
where  1,800  English  soldiers  lay  in  the  midst  of  2,900 
native  troops.  On  the  24th  April,  85  troopers  of  the 
3rd  Bengal  Cavalry  had  openly  rejected  the  very  sort  of 
cartridges  which  they  had  been  using  for  some  time  past. 
On  the  9th  of  the  following  month  the  mutineers  were 
marched  oflF  in  irons  from  the  parade-ground,  to  undergo 
their  several  sentences  of  imprisonment  with  hard  labour ; 
a  heavy  punishment  for  Mohammadans  of  good  family,  for 
soldiers  of  any  spirit  a  terrible  disgrace.  Next  evening, 
while  our  countrj-men  were  at  church,  the  native  regiments 
rose  in  arms  with  one  consent,  shot  down  some  of  their 
oflScers,  set  fire  to  their  Hues,  emptied  the  jails,  and 
spread  sudden  panic  throughout  the  European  quarters. 
General  Hewitt  and  most  of  those  around  him  were 
utterly  paralysed  by  an  outbreak  which  prompt  action  on 
their  part  would  soon  have  quelled.  The  rabble  of  the 
bazaars  joined  with  the  released  convicts  in  the  work  of 
murder,  pillage,  and  general  havoc ;  and  the  moon  rose 
on  blazing  bungalows,  on  men  and  women  dead,  dying, 
or  fleeing  for  their  lives  from  ruffians  thirsting  for  yet 
more  blood.  When  the  European  troops  were  at  length 
brought  upon  the  scene  of  horror,  night  was  already 
closing  round  them,  and  the  mutinous  regiments  held 
their  way  unchecked  and  unpursued  to  Dehh. 

The  early  morning  of  the  fatal   11th  May  saw  some 
troopers  of  the  3rd  Cavalry  riding  into  that  city,  eager  to 
continue  the  work  they  had  begun  at  Meemt.     In  a  few 
2a2 


356  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

hours  all  Dehli  was  up  against  the  bewildered  English, 
who  had  heard  nothing  of  the  mischief  wrought  the  day 
before,  and  little  dreamed  that  not  a  hand  from  Meerut 
would  now  be  stretched  forth  to  help  them.  English 
men,  women,  and  children  were  foully  butchered  within 
the  Palace  itself,  under  the  eyes,  if  not  with  the  express 
permission,  of  the  old  king,  who  owed  to  English  forbear- 
ance all  the  dignities  and  comforts  he  still  enjoyed. 
Many  an  officer  was  shot  down  by  his  own  men.  Before 
sunset  all  Dehli  was  in  the  hands  of  the  mutineers  ;  the 
gallant  Willoughby  and  his  eight  heroic  followers  having 
blown  up  the  arsenal  which  they  could  no  longer  defend 
against  hopeless  odds.*  Of  those  who  had  escaped  death 
in  the  city,  some  were  struggling  on  their  perilous  way 
to  Karnal,  while  others  had  joined  the  little  band  of 
officers  who,  under  Brigadier  Graves,  still  clung  to  the 
Flagstaff  Tower  on  the  heights  overlooking  the  northern 
side  of  Dehli,  in  vain  hope  of  the  help  that  never  came 
from  Hewitt's  garrison. 

At  last,  when  the  ruffians  from  the  city  were  renewing 
the  work  of  plunder  in  the  cantonments  outside,  the 
English  watchers  on  the  Ridge  had  to  seek  their  only 
safety  in  flight.  The  more  fortunate  soon  made  their  way 
to  Meerut  or  Karnal ;  but  some  of  their  number,  including 
women,  ran  the  gauntlet  of  every  possible  hardship  and 
danger,  in  a  hostile  country  under  the  fierce  May  sun,  be- 
fore they  found  rest  and  shelter  among  their  friends. 

Happily  for  our  countrymen  elsewhere,  the  dreadful 
deeds  doing  at  Meerut  and  Dehli  had  been  telegraphed  to 
Ambala  and  Agi-a  before  the  rebels  had  time  to  cut  the 
wires.  From  thence  the  tidings  wore  at  once  flashed  on 
to  the  Panjab  and  down  the  country  to  Calcutta.  Sir 
John  Lawrence  and  his  trusty  subalterns  proved  equal  to 
every  need.     Two  days  after  the  Dehli  massacre  Colonel 

*  Willoughby  died  soon  afterwards  of  hia  wounds.  Scully,  who  fired 
the  train,  was  never  seen  again. 


i 


LORD    CANNING.  357 

Corbett  had  quietly  disarmed  the  Sepoys  at  Labor.  Am- 
ritsar,  the  Sikh  Banilras,  was  speedily  made  safe.  Timely 
suecoui-s  were  thrown  into  the  fort  of  Philor  on  the  Satlaj. 
At  Peshawar,  Brigadier  Cotton  and  Colonel  Edwardes 
planned  and  carried  out  the  disarming  of  four-  native  regi- 
ments out  of  the  five  there  posted.  Of  the  insurgent 
Sepoys  at  Mardan  very  few  escaped  the  doom  that  dogged 
them,  whether  from  English  or  Afghan  bands.  Betrayed 
by  the  hillmen  of  the  border,  or  hunted  down  by  Edwardes's 
police,  numbers  of  them  were  afterwards  shot  or  blown 
away  from  guns,  while  many  more  paid  the  forfeit  of  their 
treason  with  hfe-long  labour  on  the  roads. 

It  was  fortunate  also  for  our  cause  that  Lawrence  and 
his  brave  helpmates  could  reckon  upon  the  loyalty  of  the 
Sikhs  on  either  side  the  Satlaj,  in  his  efforts  to  meet  a 
danger,  at  thought  of  which  even  the  boldest  sometimes 
held  their  breath.  Not  only  Sikhs  but  the  wild  Moham- 
madans  of  the  border  flocked  into  the  new  regiments  raised 
by  the  Labor  Government.  The  ruler  of  Kashmir  proved 
himself  a  friend  in  need.  From  the  Cis-Satlaj  chiefs  of 
Patiiila,  Jhind,  Nabha,  and  Kapurthalla,  came  ready  pro- 
mises of  aid  in  men,  arms,  and  money ;  promises  which  in 
every  case  were  loyally  fulfilled.  Many  chiefs  and  gentle- 
men of  less  mark  in  the  Paujiib  offered  theii'  best  services 
to  the  same  efiect.  Nor  was  our  old  foe,  Dost  Mohammad, 
backward  in  assurances  of  goodwill.  His  hands  thus 
strengthened,  the  Chief  Commissioner  of  the  Panjab  was 
left  free  by  the  spread  of  revolt  below  Dehli  to  employ  his 
best  energies  in  defence  of  Upper  Lidia.  While  a  movable 
column  of  picked  troops  marched  out  from  Jhilam  to  keep 
the  peace  in  his  own  province,  regiment  after  regiment  was 
sent  across  the  Satlaj  to  aid  in  punishing  the  mutineers, 
and  to  sti'engthen  the  little  force  which  General  Anson 
had  led  to  the  siege  of  Dehli. 

All  through  May  and  June  the  revolt  kept  spreading, 
from  Fir6;!pur  to  Allahabad  and  Banai'as,  from  Ajmir  to 


858  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Rohilkhand,  involving  hundreds  of  Englishmen  in  the  same 
bloody  doom.  If  some  regiments  spared  their  officers, 
others  shot  them  down  or  saw  them  massacred  by  less 
scrupulous  men.  The  Rani  of  Jhansi  took  a  bloody  re- 
venge for  the  loss  of  her  late  husband's  realm,  by  ordering 
the  massacre  of  nearly  a  hundred  men,  women,  and  chil- 
dren, whose  hves  she  had  just  sworn  to  spare.  Before  the 
end  of  June  not  a  station  in  Audh,  except  the  capital,  was 
left  in  English  hands  ;  and  the  garrison  of  Luckuow  itself 
was  cut  off  from  all  communication  with  the  outer  world. 
At  Cawnpore  Sir  Hugh  Wheeler  and  his  luckless  followers 
were  vainly  fighting  for  their  hves  within  weak  intrench- 
ments,  under  roofless  and  crumbling  walls,  against  thou- 
sands of  merciless  rebels  commanded  by  the  infamous 
Nana  Sahib.  In  many  districts  of  the  North- Western 
Provinces  the  mutiny  had  widened  into  a  general  revolt ; 
station  after  station  was  abandoned  by  those  civil  officers 
who  had  time  to  escape  ;  and  the  last  traces  of  English 
law  and  order  were  swept  away  in  a  flood  of  rapine,  blood- 
shed, and  general  lawlessness.  Outside  the  fort  of  Agra, 
where  English  folk  of  all  classes  found  passing  refuge,  the 
power  of  Mr.  Colvin,  the  Lieutenant-Governor,  was  openly 
defied.  A  reign  of  terror  had  begun  for  all  well-wishers 
to  our  rule. 

Meanwhile  the  news  from  Meerut  and  Dehli  had  roused 
Lord  Canning  into  taking  measures  more  or  less  worthy  of 
so  great  a  need.  Messages  for  aid  were  sent  in  all  direc- 
tions, to  Bombay,  Madras,  Rangoon,  and  Ceylon  ;  special 
powers  were  entrusted  to  the  Lawrence  brothers ;  and 
Lord  Elgin  was  entreated  to  bring  on  to  Calcutta  the 
troops  destined  for  the  Chinese  war.  By  degrees  the  ex- 
pected succours  flowed  in  ;  but  much  time  was  lost  in 
forwarding  troops  by  driblets  to  Banaras  and  Cawnpore  ; 
and  the  delay  in  disarming  the  Sepoys  at  BaiTackpore  and 
enrolling  volunteers  in  Calcutta  led  to  a  disgraceful  panic 
in  the  capital  of  British  India.     Early  in  June  the  brave 


LOr.D    CANXING. 


350 


Colonel  Neill  and  his  Madras  fusileers  reached  Banaras  iii 
time  to  save  that  cit}-  from  the  worst  issues  of  a  Sepoy 
rising.  On  the  11th  his  presence  at  Allahabad  gave  fresh 
heart  to  his  countrymen  in  the  fortress  at  the  meeting  of 
the  Jamna  with  the  Ganges,  and  cleared  the  way  for  some 
dashing  onsets  against  the  rebels  in  that  neighbourhood. 
He  had  got  all  ready  for  a  final  march  on  Cawnpore,  when 


MEMORIAL    WELL.    CAWSPORE. 


General  Havelock  came  up  to  relieve  him  of  the  chief 
command,  and  to  carry  on  the  noble  enterprise  which  he 
had  so  well  begun. 

On  the  7th  July  Havelock's  little  army  set  out  from 
Allahabad.  At  Fathipur,  and  again  by  the  Pandii  stream, 
the  troops  of  Niina  Sahib  strove  to  arrest  his  progress,  but 
in  vain.  On  the  night  of  the  16th  his  weary  soldiers  slept 
on  the  parade-ground  of  Cawnpore,  stiU  unprepared  for  the 


SCO  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

crowning  tragedy,  whose  tokens  on  the  morrow  were  to 
meet  their  eyes.  They  knew  that,  after  weeks  of  terrible 
suffering,  Wheeler  and  his  wasted  garrison  had  surrendered 
to  the  treacherous  Rajah  of  Bithiir,  that  volley  after  volley 
had  been  suddenly  fired  into  the  boats  prepared  for  their 
promised  voyage  down  the  river,  and  that  nearly  all  the 
men  who  survived  this  cowardly  attack  were  afterwards 
taken  out  of  the  boats  and  shot.  But  not  until  the  morrow 
did  they  leam  the  whole  truth  ;  how  on  the  15th  July,  the 
day  of  his  second  defeat,  the  ruthless  Nana  had  caused 
the  remnant  of  his  captives,  men,  women,  and  children,  to 
be  shot  down,  hacked,  stabbed,  or  beaten  to  death,  within 
the  bungalow  where  they  had  been  shut  up  for  a  fortnight 
past,  and  how  next  morning  their  mangled  bodies  had 
been  stripped  and  tumbled  into  the  nearest  well.*  Of  all 
the  900  who  had  entered  the  intrenchments  of  Cawnpore, 
four  only,  two  officers  and  two  privates,  escaped  almost 
by  a  miracle  to  tell  of  the  horrors  they  had  seen  and 
suffered.t 

*  Among  the  victims  of  the  Nona's  butcheries  were  a  number  of 
men,  women,  and  children,  who  had  escaped  the  slaughter  of  Fathigarh. 
Two  hundred  in  all  are  said  to  have  perished  in  the  bungalow.  The 
well  at  Cawnpore  was  afterwards  bricked  over,  and  a  handsome  memo- 
rial built  upon  the  site. 

t  These  were  Lieutenants  Thompson  and  Delafosse,  Privates  Murphy 
and  Sullivan,  who,  after  many  hairbreadth  escapes,  found  rest  and 
shelter  at  last  with  a  friendly  Audh  chief,  Raj.ih  Dig  Bijai  Singh,  until 
they  were  able  to  join  Havelock's  force  on  the  march  to  Lucknow. 


361 


CHAPTEK  III. 

LORD  CANNING — [continued). 

Wnn.E  Havelock  was  making  desperate  efforts  to  relieve 
Lucknow,  and  tlie  flames  of  revolt  were  spreading  into 
Central  India,  a  few  thousand  English  and  native  troops 
were  engaged  in  the  momentous  work  of  besieging  Dehli, 
the  one  gi-eat  stronghold  of  the  mutineers.  After  the 
death  of  General  Anson,  his  little  ai-my,  reinforced  by  a 
part  of  the  Meerut  garrison  who  had  fought  two  battles  on 
their  way  to  Dehh,  drove  the  rebels  before  them  at  Badli 
Serai  on  the  8th  June,  and  encamped  on  the  ridge  over- 
looking the  tail  red  towers  and  long  walls  of  the  Moghal 
capital.  There,  week  after  week,  they  lay  hke  a  forlorn 
hope  in  front  of  a  city  held  by  80,000  Sepoys,  themselves 
just  able  by  dint  of  heroic  efforts  to  hold  their  ground 
under  every  kind  of  danger  and  difficulty  against  repeated 
onsets  from  the  walls.  All  through  the  heats  of  June  and 
the  rains  of  July  the  besiegers  were  in  fact  themselves  be- 
sieged. Sally  after  sally  from  the  city  wasted  their  num- 
bers, stiU  further  thinned  by  disease  and  overwork.  Sir 
Hem-y  Barnai-d,  their  brave  commander,  died  of  cholera  in 
the  beginning  of  July,  and  his  successor,  General  Keed, 
was  soon  forced  by  iUness  to  make  over  the  command  to 
Brigadier  Wilson  of  the  Bengal  Ai'tiUery.  But  the  road 
from  the  Satlaj  was  kept  open  by  the  loyal  princes  of 
Sirhind,  and  Sii-  John  Lawrence  strained  every  nerve  to 
reinforce  his  countrymen  from  his  own  province.  All 
through  July  and  August  fresh  troops  came  streaming  or 
dribbling  into  Wilson's  camp.     At  last,  by  the  middle  of 


862  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

August  the  gallant  Nicholson,  fresh  from  the  slaughter  of 
armed  mutineers  on  the  Ravi,  near  Gurdiispiir,  led  into 
the  camp  before  Dehli  the  last  brigade  of  troops  which 
Lawrence  could  well  spare  from  his  already  scant  re- 
sources. 

Nicholson's  rout  of  the  rebels  at  Najafgarh  on  the  25th 
finally  cleared  the  way  for  the  approach  of  the  heavy  guns 
destined  to  batter  down  the  walls  of  the  rebel  stronghold. 
With  their  arrival  on  the  6th  September  the  siege  began 
in  earnest.  It  did  not  begin  a  moment  too  soon.  Partial 
risings  had  taken  place  in  the  Panjab  itself.  From 
Saharanpur  to  Meerut  the  country  was  overrun  by  bands 
of  lawless  villagers,  or  armed  rebels  following  the  standard 
of  some  ambitious  chief.  The  hard-pressed  defenders  of 
Lucknow  were  beginning  to  despair  of  the  help  which 
Havelock  bad  twice  faOed  to  bring  them.  Large  bodies 
of  rebels  from  Indor,  Gwalior,  and  the  neighbouring  pro- 
vinces were  gathering  for  a  march  on  Agra,  and  all  Sindia's 
efforts  were  growing  powerless  to  keep  the  Gwalior  Con- 
tingent from  joining  in  the  game  of  havoc.  The  most  loyal 
of  the  native  chiefs  could  hardly  count  on  the  faithfulness 
of  his  followers  to  what  seemed  already  a  losing  cause. 

On  the  other  hand,  succours  from  Ceylon,  the  Cape, 
and  other  quarters,  were  steaming  up  the  HughU  ;  Peel's 
naval  brigade  was  hastening  up  the  country  ;  Ontram, 
in  himself  a  host,  was  preparing  for  another  march 
from  Cawnpore  to  Lucknow  ;  and  the  gallant  Major  Eyre, 
an  old  Kabul  prisoner,  had  just  been  scattering  the  rebels, 
who  had  besieged  his  countrymen  at  Arrah,  and  striven  to 
bar  his  way  among  the  jungles  of  Jagdispur.  In  Southem 
and  Western  India,  where  the  Sepoys  with  one  or  two  ex- 
ceptions continued  faithful,  all  was  quiet ;  and  the  Nizam's 
able  minister,  Salar  Jang,  maintained  under  very  trying 
circumstances  the  peace  of  a  province  filled  with  warlike 
Arabs  and  fanatic  Mohammadans  of  every  class.  Lastly, 
inside  DehU  itself  the  rebels  were  disheartened  by  past 


LORD    CANNING. 


863 


defeats  ;  they  had  no  leader  in  whom  all  could  trust  ; 
their  own  countrymen  grew  weary  of  a  yoke  far  heavier 
than  that  from  which  they  had  been  rescued  ;  and  the  old 
strifes  of  race  and  creed  broke  out  among  men  who  had 
little  in  common  besides  the  knowledge  of  their  common 
guilt. 

On  the  11th  September  the  new  heavy  batteries 
showered  forth  their  ii'on  rain  on  the  walls  of  Dehli.  In 
vain  did  the  enemy  strive  their  best  to  cope  with  the  ris- 
ing danger.  In  three  days  the  battered  walls  were  a  heap 
of  ruins,  and  Wilson's  heroes  were  only  waiting  for  the 
word  to  rush  up  the  breaches  made  by  their  guns.  On 
the  early  morning  of  the  14th  September,  the  great  rebel 
stronghold  was  stormed  in  three  places  by  as  many 
columns,  numbering  in  all  not  quite  three  thousand  men. 
The  Kashmir  Gate  was  blown  in  under  a  deadly  fire, 
while  Nicholson's  stormers  mounted  the  main  breach. 
Two  hours  of  hard  fighting  left  our  soldiers  firmly  lodged 
within  the  walls  ;  but  their  success  was  dearly  bought  by 
the  fall  of  the  gallant  Nicholson,  the  leader  of  the  storming 
columns,  the  hope  and  pride  of  all  India.  He  lingered  for 
nine  days  of  a  mortal  wound  ;  but  his  last  hours  were 
cheered  by  the  knowledge  that  he  had  not  died  in  vain. 
After  six  days  of  hard  fighting  not  one  armed  mutineer  or 
rebel  remained  alive  within  the  captured  city.  On  the 
21st  September  the  old  kiug  himself,  in  whose  name  the 
city  had  been  defended,  was  brought  back  a  close  prisoner 
to  his  former  home.  His  intriguing  wife,  Zinat  Mahal, 
and  her  son,  Jamma  Bakht,  shai-ed  his  confinement. 
Two  more  of  his  sons  were  slain  next  day  by  their  captor, 
the  daring  Captain  Hodson,  in  the  sight  of  a  gi-eat  crowd, 
who  seemed  bent  on  rescuing  them  from  his  small  escort. 
Several  other  of  the  Dehli  princes  were  afterwards  taken, 
tried,  and  hanged  for  the  part  they  had  borne  in  the 
murder  of  English  women  and  children  on  the  11th  and 
12th  May.     In  March  of  the  next  year  the  wretched  old 


864  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

king  was  doomed  to  death  by  a  military  court  for  waging 
war  against  the  English  and  ordering  the  murder  of  forty- 
nine  Christians  within  Dehli.  But  death  was  exchanged 
for  transportation,  and  the  white-haired  felon  died  a  few 
years  afterwards  in  a  remote  corner  of  Pegu.  A  cry  for 
vengeance  went  forth  against  Zinat  Mahal  and  her  son  ; 
but  Lord  Canning,  as  firm  as  he  was  merciful,  gave  no 
heed  to  the  cry,  and  both  queen  and  prince  were  allowed 
to  share  the  fortunes  and  cheer  the  last  days  of  Moham- 
mad Bahadur  Shah. 

In  all  the  history  of  British  India,  so  fruitful  in  great 
deeds,  no  greater  achievement  was  ever  recorded  than  the 
capture  of  a  strong  waUed  city,  seven  miles  round,  by 
about  six  thousand  Englishmen  and  Sikhs,  arrayed  against 
many  times  their  number  of  desperate  and  well-armed 
foes.  After  three  months  of  watching  and  hard  fighting 
for  the  very  ground  on  which  they  stood,  their  numbers 
steadily  thinned  by  wounds  and  sickness,  Wilson's  heroes 
had  planted  their  batteries  within  grapeshot  of  bastions 
heavily  armed  and  stoutly  defended,  had  scaled  in  broad 
daylight  walls  twenty-four  feet  high,  and  cleared  out  the 
foe  in  sis  days  from  a  town  where  every  large  building  was 
itself  a  stronghold,  and  every  street  had  to  be  won  by  the 
bayonet  or  the  pickaxe.  And  all  this  was  done,  as  Lord 
Canning  proudly  declared,  "  before  a  single  soldier  of  the 
many  thousands  who  are  hastening  from  England  to  up- 
hold the  supremacy  of  the  British  power,  has  set  foot  on 
these  shores,"  and  even  before  any  of  the  troops  shipped 
olf  from  the  nearest  colonies  had  made  their  way  into  Wil- 
son's camp.  For  this  memorable  feat  of  arms,  which  cost 
the  victors  a  total  loss  of  nearly  four  thousand  from  the 
beginning  of  the  siege,  and  of  1,674  from  the  8th  to  the 
21st  September,  no  small  share  of  England's  gratitude  was 
due  to  Sir  John  Lawrence,  whose  bold  counsels  and  un- 
flagging efibrts  had  enabled  the  Forlorn  Hope  before  Dehli 
to  hold  the   Ridge  against  all  comers,  until  the  moment 


LOKD    CANNING.  865 

came  for  striking  a  death-blow  at  the  rebel  cause.  With 
the  fall  of  the  old  imperial  city  the  neck  of  the  mutiny 
was  faii-ly  broken,  although  many  months  were  yet  to 
elapse  before  the  monster  breathed  his  last. 

While  some  of  Wilson's  victorious  troops  were  engaged 
in  scouring  the  country  between  Dehli  and  Agra,  beating 
up  rebels  and  restoring  order  as  they  marched  along,  the 
timely  presence  of  Outram  and  Havelock  at  Lucknow  had 
rescued  its  war-worn  garrison  fi-om  imminent  destruction, 
if  not  yet  from  absolute  danger.  Down  to  the  end  of  June 
Sir  Henry  Lawience  had  been  employed  in  strengthening 
the  one  post  which  still  remained  to  the  Enghsh  in  Audh. 
But  his  failure  on  the  30th  to  check  the  advance  of  a 
strong  rebel  army  on  Lucknow  was  closely  followed  by  the 
siege  of  the  Enghsh  Residency,  wherein  some  fifteen 
hundred  Europeans  and  faithful  Sepoys  were  hemmed  in 
for  months  by  a  well-armed,  numerous,  and  determined 
foe.  His  own  death,  on  the  4th  July,  from  a  mortal 
wound  deprived  the  garrison  of  a  leader  whose  many  pub- 
lic services  were  enhanced  by  virtues  of  the  highest  order, 
and  whose  whole  life  may  be  summed  up  in  the  sentence 
carved  upon  his  tomb — "  Here  lies  Henry  Lawrence,  who 
tried  to  do  his  duty." 

Happily  his  spii-it  still  lived  in  those  who  carried  on  the 
defence  for  which  his  foresight  had  so  well  prepared. 
Under  every  drawback  of  scanty  numbers,  sickness,  hard 
fare,  incessant  work,  in  spite  of  a  weak  position,  of  hopes 
continually  disappointed,  of  prolonged  resistance  to  fearful 
odds,  the  defenders  of  the  Lucknow  Residency  upheld  for 
more  than  three  months  the  honour  of  their  flag  and  the 
safety  of  their  countrywomen  against  the  banded  forces  of 
a  whole  province  in  revolt.  Men  and  women  alike  toUed, 
watched,  and  suffered  in  their  several  ways  under  a  cease- 
less hail  from  guns  and  musketry,  varied  by  the  noise  of 
bursting  mines  and  the  yells  of  desperate  onsets  daringly 
repelled.     At  last,  in  the  beginning  of  September,  Outram 


366  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

led  fortli  his  succouring  brigade  from  Allahabad.  On  the 
19th,  some  three  thousand  soldiers,  chiefly  English, 
marched  out  from  Cawnpore  under  Outram,  Havelock, 
and  Neill,  to  cut  their  way  at  all  hazards  into  Lncknow. 
On  the  28rd,  Havelock's  army — for,  thanks  to  Outram's 
generous  self-denial,  he  had  retained  the  chief  command — 
stormed  the  Alambagh,  or  summer-palace  of  the  queens 
of  Audh,  under  a  furious  fire  from  the  enemy's  guns. 

Two  days  later  they  fought  their  way  through  streets  of 
loopholed  houses,  over  barriers  bristling  with  death,  into 
the  half-ruined  Residency  itself.  Nearly  five  hundred 
slain  or  woimded  was  the  price  which  Havelock  paid  for 
his  success,  and  the  joy  of  victory  was  further  damped  by 
the  death  of  General  NeOl  within  a  few  yards  from  the 
British  entrenchments.  But  the  deliverers  had  not  come 
too  soon,  for  the  enemy  had  carried  two  mines  under  the 
Residency,  and  a  very  few  days  more  might  have  seen  the 
last  of  its  defenders  buried  beneath  its  ruins.  Even  as 
things  were,  the  relieving  force,  once  more  commanded  by 
Sir  James  Outi-am,  could  do  little  more  than  carry  on  with 
ampler  means  the  defence  of  the  position  so  hardly  won, 
until  a  new  army  could  march  up  to  aid  them  in  with- 
drawing the  old  garrison  to  Cawnpore. 

In  due  time  a  fi-esh  army,  under  Sir  Colin  Campbell 
of  Crimean  fame,  began  its  march  towards  Lucknow.  By 
the  12th  November  it  was  encamped  at  the  Alambagh. 
On  the  14th  Sir  Colin  resumed  his  advance,  carrying  one 
strong  post  after  another  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  with 
due  help  at  need  from  his  heavy  guns.  On  the  16th 
two  thousand  rebels  were  mercilessly  slain  by  the  ti'oops 
who  stormed  the  massive  walls  of  the  Sikandar  Bagh. 
The  storming  of  the  Shah  Najaf  Mosque,  after  Peel's 
naval  guns  had  vainly  battered  its  strong  masonry  for 
three  hours,  closed  that  day's  work  with  brilliant  promise 
of  triumphs  yet  to  win.  A  few  hours  more  of  steady 
fighting  on  the  morrow,  in  which  Outram's  soldiers  played 


LORD    CANNING. 


367 


their  part,  brought  the  besieged  and  their  deliverers  face 
to  face.  A  few  days  later  the  last  of  the  Lucknow  garrison 
slept  once  more  in  peace  and  safety  on  the  pleasant  camp- 
ing -  ground  of  the  Dil-Khushah.  There,  on  the  25th 
November,  Sir  Henry  Havelock,  worn  out  by  toil  and 
sickness,  breathed  his  last. 

Leaving  Outram  strongly  posted  at  the  Alambagh,  Sir 
Colin  Campbell  marched  off  with  the  rest  of  his  troops  and 
the  rescued  women  and  children  for  Cawnpore,  where  his 
presence  was  already  needed  by  those  he  had  left  behind. 
The  powerful  Gwalior  Contingent,  having  at  last  broken 
loose  from  Sindia's  control,  had  crossed  the  Jamna,  and 
with  numbers  swollen  by  the  remnants  of  the  N  ana's 
forces,  marched  en  towards  Cawnpore.  After  a  vain  at- 
tempt to  bar  their  progress,  Windham's  small  force  fell 
back  in  some  disorder  into  an  entrenched  position  near 
the  Ganges.  Here  for  two  days  the  rebels,  twenty 
thousand  strong,  under  their  ablest  leader,  Tantia  Topi, 
pressed  him  so  hard  that  the  bridge  of  boats  was  in  im- 
minent danger  of  destruction,  when  Sir  Colin's  soldiers  on 
the  28th  November  reappeared  betimes  on  the  opposite 
bank. 

As  soon  as  the  sick  and  wounded,  the  women  and 
children  of  the  Lucknow  garrison  had  been  sent  off  to- 
wards Calcutta,  Campbell  proceeded  to  settle  accounts  with 
the  foe.  Their  utter  rout  on  the  6th  December,  with  the 
loss  of  seventeen  guns  and  all  their  stores,  was  crowned  on 
the  9th  by  their  pursuit  and  final  dispersion,  vrith  the 
capture  of  all  their  remaining  guns.  During  the  same 
month  fresh  victories  were  gained  by  English  columns  over 
the  rebels  in  Kohilkhand  and  the  districts  bordering  the 
Ganges.  Rewah,  in  Bundalkhand,  was  cleared  of  rebels 
by  the  gallant  Lieutenant  Osborne.  The  mutineers  of 
Nimach  were  routed  by  Brigadier  Stuart  near  Mandisor. 
Sagar,  in  Central  India,  was  still  held  by  faithful  Sepoys, 
and  order  was  restored  in  the  dominions  of  Holkar. 


3C8  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

Several  of  the  leading  rebels   had  bj   this  time  been 
caught  and  hanged,  nor  was  any  mercy  shown  to  those 
who  had  taken    part  in    the   murder  or  ill-treatment  of 
English  people.     It  must  even  be  confessed  that  in  some 
places  the  work  of  vengeance  and  repression  had  been 
carried  by  civil   and   military  officers  to   a  length  which 
neither  past  provocation  nor  present  danger  could  fairly 
excuse.     The  cry  for  blood  went  forth  from  all  quarters, 
and  many  innocent   perished,   or   were  brought  to  ruin 
along  with  the  guilty.     It  is  greatly  to  Lord  Canning's 
honour,  that  he  boldly  and  firmly  set  his  face  against  deeds 
of  wanton  cruelty  wrought  in  the  name  of  justice  by  some 
of  those  whom  he  bad  necessarily  entrusted  with  special 
powers.     From  the  fii-st  he  denounced  the  folly  of  dealing 
with  the  people  at  large  as  mere  rebels  or  abettors  of  re- 
bellion ;  and  all  the  abuse  showered  upon  him,  both  in 
India  and  England,  for  his  noble  interference  failed  to  turn 
him  from  his  purpose  of  tempering  just  retribution  with 
open-handed  and  politic  mercy.    Even  in  the  darkest  days 
of  1857,  it  came  out  more    and   more  clearly  that  the 
Sepoy  revolt  had  widened  into  a  popular  uprising,  mainly 
in  districts  new  to  our  rule,  or  peopled  largely  by  robbers 
and   Mohammadans,   or  held   by   unruly  and    disaffected 
chiefs.     Many  a  life  was  saved  by  the  devotion  of  native 
servants,  as  well  as  the  active  loyalty  of  native  gentlemen. 
In  putting  a  stop  betimes  to  the  wholesale  burning  of  sus- 
pected villages,  and  the  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  sus- 
pected criminals,  Lord  Canning  rendered  a  signal  service 
not  only  to  his   own   countrymen,   but  to  the  people   of 
India,  who  learned  that  their  masters,  however  quick  to 
strike  and   stern  to  punish,    could   yet  stay  their   hands 
when  the  worst  of  the  danger  had  blown  over.      English- 
men and  natives  alike  may  thank  him  for  preventing  a  for- 
midable outbreak  from  flaring  up  into  a  war  of  race  against 
race. 

\Miile  Outram  held  bis  post  at  the  Alambagh  against 


LORD    CANNING. 


369 


repeated  onsets  of  manj-  thousand  rebels,  and  Hope  Grant 
was  gaining  fresh  victories  in  RobUkhand,  and  Franks, 
with  a  force  partly  composed  of  Giirkbas  from  Nipal,  was 
driving  the  enemy   before   liim  into  Lucknow,   and  other 


GHRKHA.    BRAHMAS,    AND    SCDBA. 


officers  were  doing  good  work  in  Central  and  Western 
India,  Sir  Colin  Campbell  was  making  ready,  in  his  own 
cautious  fashion,  for  one  last  overwhelming  advance  on 
the  capital  of  Audb.     At  length,  on  the  2nd  March,  1858, 

2^8 


370  HISTORY    OF   rSDU. 

the  van  of  his  fine  army,  25,000  strong  in  all,  including 
16,000  good  English  troops,  with  a  powerful  siege-train, 
halted  after  a  brief  fight  on  the  old  camping-ground  at  the 
Dil-Khushuh.  On  the  6th,  Outram  crossed  the  Gnmti 
to  play  a  leading  part  in  the  capture  of  Lucknow.  By 
the  16th  the  two  commanders  had  won  their  way,  not 
without  some  hard  fighting,  into  the  heart  of  the  rebel 
city,  while  the  Nipalese  Jang  Bahadur  cleared  out  the 
enemy  from  the  southern  side,  and  rescued  two  English 
ladies  who  had  survived  the  murder  of  their  friends  and 
kindred  some  months  before.  A  few  days  later  not  an 
iinned  rebel  remained  in  or  near  Lucknow.  The  trifling 
loss  sustained  by  the  victors  was  heightened  by  the  death 
of  the  daring  Hodson  ;  and  Captain  WilUam  Peel,  whose 
sailors  had  been  foremost  in  every  fight,  died  in  April  of 
small-pox,  which  attacked  him  just  as  he  was  recovering 
from  his  wounds. 

The  conquerors  of  Lucknow  had  still  to  deal  with  the 
insurgents  in  Rohilkhand,  whose  numbers  were  swollen  by 
fugitives  from  all  parts  of  Audh.  Shahjahanpur  was 
taken  on  the  25th  April,  and  Bareli  on  the  6th  May.  The 
insurgent  forces,  beaten  and  broken  up  in  every  fight,  still 
roamed  about  the  country,  causing  their  pursuers  much 
trouble  and  some  little  loss  from  the  heat  and  hardships 
to  which  they  were  exposed.  Rohilkhand,  indeed,  was 
virtually  reconquered  before  the  end  of  June ;  but  the 
rising  in  Bahar  under  Koer  Singh  involved  weary  marches 
amid  deep  jungle,  and  the  reconquest  of  Audh  was  only 
completed  on  the  last  day  of  December,  when  the  high- 
mettled  Begam  of  Audh,  and  the  outlawed  Nana  Sahib 
led  the  last  of  their  hunted  followers  across  the  Kapti 
into  the  forests  of  NipiU.  Even  of  this  poor  remnant 
many  fell  by  the  swords  of  their  pm-suers  ;  whOe  others, 
including  the  Nana  himself,  are  believed  to  have  perished 
of  disease. 

One  leader.  Prince  Firoz  Shah   of  Dehli,  cut  his  way 


LORO    CANNING.  371 

with  a  few  followers  through  Audh  across  the  Ganges,  to 
shaje  the  fortunes  of  Tantia  Topi,  who,  driven  out  of 
Gwalior  by  Sir  Hugh  Kose,  still  held  a  few  troops  together 
in  the  wilds  of  Rajputana,  doubling  on  his  pursuers  hke  a 
hunted  hare.  How  he  had  been  brought  to  this  plight,  it 
remains  to  tell. 

In  the  beginning  of  1858  several  columns  of  troops 
from  Bombay  and  Madras  were  marching  on  various  points 
of  the  country  lying  to  the  west  and  south  of  the  Jamna, 
from  the  Aravalli  to  the  Yindhya  Hills.  A  Madras  column 
under  General  Whitlock,  after  doing  good  service  about 
Jabalpur  moved  on  to  defeat  the  rebels  in  Bundalkhand. 
Yet  harder  work  awaited  the  Bombay  column  which  Sir 
Hugh  Rose  led  first  of  aU  to  the  relief  of  Sugar.  On  the 
11th  February  the  strong  fort  of  Garakotah  fell  into  Sir 
Hugh's  hands.  The  rout  of  the  rebels  at  Madanpur 
opened  the  way  to  fresh  successes.  On  the  17th  March 
Stuart's  brigade  stormed  the  fortress  of  Chanderi. 
Jhansi  itself  was  invested.  Twenty  thousand  men  under 
Tantia  Topi  crossed  the  Betwah  in  hopes  of  raising  the 
siege.  On  the  1st  April  they  were  routed  with  heavy 
slaughter  by  1,200  of  Sir  Hugh's  force,  and  two  days 
afterwards  the  fierce  Rani's  rock-perched  stronghold  was 
carried  by  stonn  ;  herself  with  a  few  followers  escaping 
into  the  jungle.  Again  the  Rani  and  her  Brahman  ally 
barred  the  way  against  their  old  assailants  at  Kiinch  on  the 
7th  May.  Once  more  driven  from  the  field  of  their  own 
choosing  through  Sir  Hugh's  masterly  tactics,  they  fell 
back  with  the  loss  of  several  guns  on  Kalpi,  a  strong 
fortress  overlooking  the  Jamna,  not  far  from  Cawnpore. 

Sir  Hugh,  however,  was  not  to  be  thwarted.  On  the 
19th  May,  with  the  aid  of  a  column  from  Cawnpore,  he 
began  the  attack.  Twice  the  rebels  sallied  out  against 
his  wearied  soldiers,  but  in  vain.  By  the  23rd  May  they 
were  off  to  Gwahor,  and  Sir  Hugh  became  easy  master  of  a 
fortified  arsenal  containing  fifty  guns  and  large  store  of  arms 
2b2 


872  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

and  ammunition.  By  this  time,  both  he  himself  and  his 
heroic  little  anny  were  in  sore  need  of  rest  after  so  many 
months  of  constant  marching  and  hard  fighting  under  an 
Indian  sun,*  across  many  hundred  miles  of  very  broken 
ground.  But  the  state  of  affairs  at  Gwalior  forbade  more 
than  a  brief  halt  at  that  moment.  On  the  1st  June  the 
brave  young  Sindia  and  his  able  minister  Dinkar  Rao  were 
fljdng  for  their  lives  to  Agra  from  a  capital  already  filled 
with  victorious  rebels.  Among  these  Tantia  Topi  at  once 
took  the  lead,  in  the  name  of  the  Nana,  whom  the  Maratha 
soldiery  were  bidden  to  accept  as  their  future  Peshwa. 
Leaving  Whitlock,  the  captor  of  Banda,  to  guard  Kalpi, 
Sir  Hugh  Kose  lost  no  time  in  marching  upon  Gwalior, 
where  some  18,000  rebels,  strongly  posted  around  a  rock- 
fortress  of  vast  strength,  awaited  his  attack.  Nothing, 
however,  could  long  withstand  the  determined  efibrts  of 
disciplined  veterans  led  by  the  most  brilliant  general 
whom  the  mutiny  had  produced.  Three  days  of  bold 
manoeuvring  and  successful  fighting,  in  the  course  of 
which  the  bloodstained  Rani  of  Jhansi  met  a  soldier's 
death,  placed  all  Gwalior  outside  the  citadel  in  Sir  Hugh's 
hands.  On  the  20th  June  a  handful  of  Sepoys  scaled  the 
far-famed  citadel  itself,  already  abandoned  by  most  of  its 
defenders  ;  and  the  young  Maharajah  rode  back  in  triumph 
through  the  streets  of  a  city  which  British  valour  had  won 
back  for  its  rightful  lord.  Next  day  Brigadier  Robert 
Napier,  with  a  few  hundred  horsemen  and  six  Ught  guns, 
caught  up  and  scattered  by  a  daring  charge  several 
thousand  of  Tantia's  beaten  troops.  Twenty-five  guns 
fell  into  the  victors'  hands,  and  the  army  of  the  Peshwa, 
broken  up  into  small  flying  bands,  no  longer  existed  as  an 
organised  force. 

Thus  ended    one    of   the   most  briUiant   and   masterly 
campaigns  of  which  history  has  any  record.     In  less  than 

•  Sir  Hugh  Rose  himself  had  suffered  from  five  sunstrokea  in  a 
few  days,  and  many  of  his  soldiers  died  from  the  same  cause. 


LORD    CANNING.  373 

m  months  Sir  Hugh  Rose  had  led  his  few  thousand  war- 
riors, English  and  native,*  over  more  than  a  thousand 
miles  of  rugged  country,  bristling  with  arms,  and  dotted 
with  strongholds,  each  capable  of  a  stout  defence.  From 
Indor  to  Sagar,  to  Jhansi,  to  Kalpi,  at  length  to  Gwalior, 
they  had  marched  without  a  check  in  the  fierce  heats  of  an 
Indian  summer,  from  victory  to  victory,  across  rivers,  over 
mountain  passes,  through  intricate  jungles,  into  the  strong- 
est forts,  in  the  teeth  of  armies  well  led,  fairly  disciplined, 
not  badly  equipped,  and  always  far  outnumbering  their 
own.  Their  bravery,  devotion,  and  discipline,  under 
hardships,  dangers,  and  temptations  of  every  kind,  had 
well  earned  the  hearty  thanks  of  the  skilful  leader,  who, 
with  their  help,  had  placed  himself  by  that  one  campaign 
on  a  level  with  some  of  the  first  names  in  the  annals  of 
modem  warfare. 


*  Among  these  were  some  of  the  Haidarabiid   Contingent,  whose 
loyalty  had  remained  proof  to  all  temptations. 


BOOK   YII. 
INDIA   UNDER   THE    CROWN. 


CHAPTER   I. 
LOBD  CANNING — {continued). 

With  the  re-captm-e  of  Gwalior  ended  the  last  serioas 

struggle  against  our  arms.  In  the  most  unquiet  districts 
order  was  being  gradually  restored,  and  the  rule  of  the 
civil  officer  -was  fast  replacing  that  of  the  military  chief. 
A  passing  outbreak  in  the  Southern  Maratha  country 
had  been  suppressed  betimes,  before  it  came  to  a  serious 
head.  DehU  and  the  adjacent  districts  had  been  added 
to  the  Government  of  the  Panjab.  Order  reigned  in  the 
North-Westem  Provinces.  In  Audh  the  mild  influence 
of  Sir  James  Outram  and  his  successor,  Mr.  Montgomerj', 
was  fast  winning  over  the  rebellious  Talukdars  or  land- 
holders to  accept  the  only  terms  on  which  Lord  Canning 
would  reinstate  them  in  their  forfeit  domains.  By  the 
end  of  the  year  the  last  of  the  Audh  insurgents  were 
driven,  as  we  have  seen,  into  the  jungles  at  the  foot 
of  the  Nipalese  Hills.  Tantia  Topi  was  stUl  at  large  in 
Central  India,  leading  his  pursuers  a  weary  chase  from 
Rajputana  to  Beriii- ;  but  he,  too,  on  the  7th  April,  1859, 
was  caught  at  last  in  the  jungle  near  Sipri,  betrayed, 
like  another  Wallace,  by  one  of  his  most  trusty  followers. 


876  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

His  trial  and  speedy  death  as  a  proven  accomplice  in  the 
Nana's  crimes  cut  short  the  career  of  the  one  able  leader  on 
the  rebel  side,  and  marked  the  close  of  a  mutiny  which  had 
drenched  aU  Upper  India  in  blood.  His  comrade,  Firoz 
Shah,  once  more  escaped  ;  but  the  last  embers  of  revolt 
had  been  trodden  out.  The  great  Sepoy  Army  of  Bengal 
had  been  swallowed  up  in  the  storm  of  its  own  raising. 
The  massacres  of  Cawnpore,  Dehh,  and  Jhansi,  had  been 
requited  a  hundred-fold.  Of  the  surviving  mutineers 
thousands  were  doomed  to  hard  labour  in  Indian  jails, 
or  to  lifelong  imprisonment  in  the  Andaman  Islands.  Of 
the  leading  rebels  who  fell  into  our  hands,  some  were 
put  to  death ;  others,  less  criminal,  were  banished  or 
imprisoned;  while  the  remainder,  with  the  bulk  of  their 
followers,  were  allowed  to  go  free. 

In  the  last  months  of  this  momentous  struggle,  the 
great  Merchant  Company,  which  had  subdued  all  India 
in  less  than  a  hundred  years,  underwent  the  doom  which 
had  been  hanging  over  it  ever  since  the  days  of  Pitt. 
In  spite  of  its  long  established  power,  of  the  glorious 
memories  which  surrounded  its  name,  of  the  eloquence 
of  its  friends  in  Parliament,  of  the  masterly  pleadings 
drawn  up  in  its  behalf  by  its  faithful  servant  and  wise 
counsellor,  Mr.  John  Stuart  Mill,  it  failed  to  stem  the  tide 
of  popular  feeliug  which  the  events  of  1857  had  set  rolling 
more  and  more  ominously  against  the  magnates  of 
LeadenhaU  Street.  On  the  2nd  August,  1858,  Queen 
Victoria  gave  her  assent  to  the  Bill  which,  drawn  up  by 
Lord  Stanley  and  carried  with  few  amendments  tlirough 
both  Houses,  decreed  tlie  transfer  of  all  sovereign  power 
in  India  from  the  hands  of  the  East  India  Company  to 
the  Crown.  Thenceforth  the  government  of  India  was 
vested  in  one  of  Her  Majesty's  Ministers,  aided  by  a 
Council  of  Fifteen,  eight  of  whom  were  to  be  chosen  at 
first  from  the  old  Court  of  Directors.  One  of  the  last 
acts  of  the  discrowned  Company  was  to  vote  Sir  John 


LORD    CANNING.  877 

Lawrence  a  handsome  pension  for  services  unsurpassed 
in  Indian  history. 

Thus  in  the  very  zenith  of  its  outward  gi-eatness  passed 
away  from  the  historic  scene  a  power  whose  services 
alike  to  India  and  England  might  have  seemed  to  deserve 
a  better  fate.  Englishmen  might  well  be  proud  of  a  body 
whose  fame  had  filled  the  world,  whose  servants  in  a 
hundred  years  had  borne  the  Company's  flag  from  one 
end  of  India  to  the  other,  fighting  always  against  heavy 
odds,  overthrowing  many  great  dynasties,  and  proving  in 
peace  as  well  as  in  war  their  right  to  rule  the  two  hundred 
and  odd  nulUons  whom  successive  conquests,  made  for 
the  most  part  in  self-defence,  often  in  the  teeth  of  orders 
from  England,  had  finally  placed  under  their  charge. 
But  the  tree,  in  fact,  was  rotten  before  it  was  cut  down. 
The  Company's  sovereignty  had  long  been  undermined 
by  the  powers  entrusted  to  the  Ministerial  Board  of 
Control ;  and  its  patronage,  the  last  remaining  source 
of  its  political  life,  was  fast  shpping  out  of  its  hands, 
when  the  great  storm  of  1857  revealed  the  weakness  of 
its  friends  to  withstand  the  -n-idespread  demand,  raised 
both  at  home  and  in  India,  for  its  entire  suppression  as 
a  ruling  power. 

On  the  1st  November  all  India  was  made  aware  of  the 
change  which  had  befallen  her  late  masters.  On  that  day 
Lord  Canning,  as  the  new-made  Viceroy  under  the  new 
rule,  issued  from  Allahabad  the  famous  proclamation  which 
announced  in  the  Queen's  name  the  final  transfer  of 
India's  sovereignty  from  the  Company  to  the  Crown. 
Throughout  the  chief  cities  of  British  India  the  new  era 
of  national  progress  was  solemnly  proclaimed  to  eager 
and  rejoicing  crowds,  amidst  the  booming  of  guns,  the 
clang  of  martial  music,  and  the  cheers  of  paraded  troops. 
In  the  words  of  the  royal  manifesto  there  might  be 
nothing  absolutely  new  beyond  the  fact  that  another  hand 
would  hencefoi-th  wield  the  sceptre  hitherto  entrusted  to 


378  HISTOEY    OF    INDIA. 

a  private  Company.  No  new  principles  were  really 
involved  in  the  assertion  of  her  Majesty's  resolve  to 
govern  her  new  subjects  with  a  tender  and  scrupulous 
regard  for  the  rights,  dignities,  usages,  and  well-being 
of  each  and  all.  But  a  certain  sense  of  reUef  from  past 
troubles  and  secret  feai's  for  the  future  inclined  the  people 
at  large  to  hail  the  new  edict  as  a  timely  message  of 
peace,  forgiveness,  and  goodwill,  a  sure  promise  of  better 
days  to  come,  a  formal  charter  of  rights  hitherto 
begrudged  or  disregarded  in  fact,  if  not  in  words. 

Honours  and  rewards  were  freely  distributed  among  all 
who  had  done  good  service  during  the  late  revolt.  Lord 
Canning  became  an  earl ;  Sir  John  LawTence,  General 
Wilson,  and  Sir  James  Outram  baronets ;  Sir  Colin 
Campbell  won  his  peerage  as  Lord  Clyde ;  the  son  of 
General  Havelock  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy  conferred 
upon  his  dying  father.  Nicholson's  widowed  mother  was 
not  forgotten,  nor  the  fanuly  of  the  daring  NeUl.  A  host 
of  deserving  officers,  ci^-il  and  mUitary,  were  endowed 
with  the  Order  of  the  Bath.  Every  soldier  who  shared 
in  the  siege  of  Dehli  or  the  defence  of  Lucknow  was 
allowed  to  reckon  another  year's  service  towards  his 
pension.  Estates  were  conferred  on  unofficial  Englishmen 
who,  like  Boyle,  the  defender  of  Arrah  against  thousands  of 
armed  Sepoys,  had  done  things  worthy  of  remembrance.* 

*  The  defence  of  Mr.  Boyle's  bungalow  at  Arrah  by  18  Europeans 
and  50  Sikh  police,  for  seven  days,  against  3,000  armed  mutineers, 
aided  by  two  guns,  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  episodes  in  the  war 
of  1857.  It  was  conducted  by  Mr.  Wake  of  the  Bengal  Civil  Service, 
but  its  success  was  mainly  owing  to  the  foresight  of  Mr.  Boyle,  a 
railway  engineer,  who  had  fortified  and  provisioned  his  house  weeks 
before  the  revolt  of  the  Sepoys  at  Dinapore.  One  attempt  to  relieve 
the  defenders  from  Dinapore  was  beaten  back  with  heavy  slaughter. 
The  supply  of  drink  ran  short,  but  the  Sikhs  found  fresh  water  by 
digging  through  the  floor.  At  length,  on  the  3rd  August,  Major 
Vincent  Eyre,  with  "-'00  English  soldiers  and  three  guns,  scattered  the 
besiegers,  saved  the  little  garrison  from  further  danger,  and  cleared 
the  road  from  Bengal  to  Cawnpore, 


LORD    CANNING.  379 

Every  native  known  to  have  saved  English  lives  or 
property  received  a  liberal  reward.  On  those  native 
chiefs  and  princes  who  had  stood  loyally  by  the  Govern- 
ment all  sorts  of  honours  and  gifts  were  ungrudgingly 
bestowed.  The  Nizam  himself  got  back  a  part  of  his 
former  territorj',  and  the  balance  of  his  debt  to  the  State 
was  wholly  remitted.  His  able  minister,  Salar  Jang,  in 
addition  to  a  knighthood  of  the  new  Star  of  India,  was 
handsomely  rewarded  in  other  ways.  New  rights,  gi-ants 
of  land,  and  privileges,  were  secui-ed  to  Sindia  and 
Holkar,  and  in  yet  larger  measure  to  the  loyal  Sikh 
princes  without  whose  aid  Dehli  could  not  have  been 
retaken,  nor  the  adjacent  provinces  so  speedily  subdued. 
The  noble  Rajah  of  Patiala  was  the  first  native  who  took 
his  seat  in  the  Viceroy's  Legislative  Council,  as  remodelled 
in  1861. 

One  concession  by  which  the  native  princes  set  most 
store  was  made  by  Lord  Canning,  in  the  Sanads  or 
patents  which  acknowledged,  with  due  restrictions,  the 
right  of  every  native  feudatory  to  adopt  an  heir  on  the 
failure  of  male  issue  in  his  own  line.  In  some  cases  a 
special  provision  was  even  made  for  the  appointment  of 
a  fit  successor  to  a  prince  who  left  neither  a  natural  nor 
an  adopted  heir.*  The  spirit  of  the  Royal  Proclamation 
was  also  visible  in  the  process  of  doing  away  with  the 
old  distinctions  between  Supreme  and  Sadr  Courts.  The 
richt  of  sitting  in  the  new  High  Court  of  each  province 
was  for  the  first  time  thrown  open  to  qualified  native 
judges  of  a  lower  grade.  About  the  same  time  the  Penal 
Code  first  di-afted  by  Macaulay  became  the  law  of  the 
land  for  all  creeds  and  classes.  For  the  first  time  also 
since  the  days  of  Comwallis  native  gentlemen  were 
empowered  to  serve  as  magistrates  imder  the  Crown. 

The  last  years  of  Lord  Canning's  rule  were  employed 
iu  repairing  the  mischief  caused  by  the  great  mutiny.  In 
*  "Eajaha  of  the  Panjab,"  by  Lepel  Griffin.     1873. 


880 


niSTORY    OF    INDU. 


1859  Mr.  James  WiJson  was  sent  out  from  England  to 
devise  new  ways  and  means  of  replenishing  an  exhausted 
treasury  and  reducing  the  public  outlay.  On  his  untimely 
death  in  18G0  his  place  was  taken  and  his  task  success- 
fully carried  on  by  Mr.  Laing.  A  few  small  local 
outbreaks  ruffled  for  a  while  the  general  peace,  and 
riots  in  the  indigo  districts  of  Bengal  reduced  some  of 
the  planters  for  a  time  to  serious  straits.  But  all  these 
were  trifles  compared  to  the  great  famine  which  wasted 
Upper  India  in  1861,  causing  the  death  of  half  a  million 
sufferers,  and  throwing  back  for  several  years  the  process 
of  recovery  from  the  disasters  of  1857.  Foremost  in  the 
efforts  made  by  his  countrymen  to  allay  the  consequent 
misery  was  Colonel  Baird  Smith,  who  had  borne  no 
trifling  part  in  the  siege  and  capture  of  Dehli.  He  died 
on  his  way  home,  a  victim  to  overwork  in  a  baneful 
climate. 

On  the  1st  November,  1861,  a  splendid  gathering  of 
English  officers  and  native  chiefs  nxnged  itself  round 
Lord  Canning  at  Allahabad,  to  take  part  in  the  investiture 
of  some  among  them  with  the  Order  of  the  Star  of  India. 
Chief  among  those  who  received  the  badges  of  the  new 
order  from  the  hands  of  its  first  Grand  Master,  the 
Viceroy  himself,  were  the  Rajahs  of  Gwalior  and  Patiala, 
the  Nawab  of  Rampiir,  and  the  stout-hearted  Begam  of 
Bhopal.  A  few  months  later  Lord  Canning,  worn  out 
with  cares  and  failing  health,  left  Calcutta  on  his  way 
home.  On  the  17th  .June,  but  a  few  weeks  after  his 
landing  in  England,  the  heirless  son  of  George  Canning 
had  ceased  to  breathe. 

He  had  already  lived  down  the  unpopularity  which  his 
earlier  measiu-es  during  the  mutiny  had  provoked.  What- 
ever may  have  been  his  shortcomings  at  the  outbreak  of 
a  storm  which  found  him  still  new  to  his  work,  surrounded 
by  advisers  no  abler  nor  clearer-sighted  than  himself,  his 
cool  courage  and  firm  adherence  to  his  own  views  of  duty 


LORD    CANNING. 


381 


and  justice  won  him  the  respect  even  of  those  who  found 
most  fault  with  his  seeming  blindness  to  the  true  purport 
of  passing  events.  Undismayed  by  the  panic  around 
him,  tmswayed  by  the  impulses  of  popular  clamour,  he 
worked  away  at  his  post  with  the  calmness  of  conscious 
rectitude,  and  kept  his  own  head  clear  when  all  around 
him  were  fast  losing  theirs.  The  bold  stand  which  he 
made  against  the  popular  cry  for  indiscriminate  revenge 
forms  perhaps  his  highest  claim  to  historic  remembrance ; 
and  the  name  of  Clemency  Canning,  once  fastened  on  him 
in  keen  reproach,  has  already  become  the  fairest  tribute 
to  his  public  worth. 

Before  Canning  left  India  he  could  point  to  the  great 
progress  already  made  in  works  of  national  usefulness. 
By  the  beginning  of  1862  thirteen  hundred  and  sixty 
miles  of  railway  had  been  opened,  half  of  that  total  in 
the  last  two  years.  The  great  trunk  road  from  Calcutta 
had  been  completed  to  Peshawar,  and  many  hundred 
mUes  of  new  roads  had  been  opened  throughout  the 
country.  New  canals  were  begun,  continued,  or  completed 
in  several  provinces,  and  other  public  works  were  pushed 
steadily  forward.  The  whole  foreign  trade  of  India  had 
increased  from  32  millions  in  1850  to  80  millions  in  1861. 
In  Bengal  the  customs  revenue  had  nearly  trebled  itself 
in  ten  years.  In  the  last  four  years  the  foreign  trade 
of  Bombay  had  been  increased  by  ten  millions,  to  the 
enrichment  of  the  cotton  growers  and  merchants  in 
Western  and  Southern  India,  who  had  begun  to  furnish 
the  mills  of  Lancashire  with  the  cotton  no  longer  obtain- 
able from  the  ■war-burdened  States  of  the  American  Union. 


382 


CHAPTER  n. 

LORD    ELGIN    AND    SJR    JOHN    LAWRENCE 1862-1869. 

Lord  Canning's  place  in  India  was  worthily  filled  by  Lord 
Elgin,  whose  successful  diplomacy  had  just  secured  the 
fruits  of  Sir  Hope  Grant's  victorious  march  to  Pekin. 
The  sometime  Governor  of  Jamaica  and  Canada  had 
already  won  for  himself  a  name  for  statesmanship  of  a 
high  order  ;  and  the  work  awaiting  him  in  India  was  far 
from  light.  His  first  year  of  office  was  spent  mainly  in 
Calcutta,  in  the  quiet  discharge  of  his  new  duties.  Early 
in  1863  he  set  out  for  the  upper  provinces,  holding  State 
Darbdrs  at  Banaras,  Agra,  and  Ambala,  on  his  way  up  to 
the  hills.  Towards  the  end  of  September  he  started  again 
from  Simla  on  an  exploring  journey  through  the  mountain 
tracts  of  the  Panjab.  But  the  keen  air  of  the  wild  Kiilu 
passes  proved  too  much  for  a  frame  already  weakened  by 
the  climate  of  Lower  Bengal ;  and  on  the  20th  November 
Lord  Elgin  died  of  heart  disease  at  Dhai-msala  in  the 
Kangra  valley,  in  the  midst  of  plans  for  a  great  military  and 
ofiicial  gathering  at  Labor,  and  for  checking  the  movements 
of  Wahiibi  fanatics  in  tlie  hills  westward  of  the  Indus. 

Before  bis  death  the  Sitana  campaign  had  already 
begun  with  the  advance  of  a  British  force  imder  General 
NeviUe  Chamberlain  into  the  Ambela  Pass.  But  the  fierce 
mountaineers  fought  hard  in  their  native  hiUs  ;  Chamber- 
lain himself  was  badly  wounded  in  November ;  and  his 
troops  held  only  the  ground  they  had  won  after  days  of 
incessant  fighting.  The  Council  at  Calcutta  were  on  the 
point  of  ordering  an  ill-timed  retreat,  when  Sir  William 


LORD    ELGIN    AND    SIR    JOHN    LAWRENCE. 


383 


Denison,  Governor  of  Madras,  reached  Calcutta  as  Lord 

Elgin's  acting  successor,  in  time  to  overrule  their  feebler 
counsels,  and  to  support  Sir  Hugh  Rose,  the  Commander- 
in-Chief,  in  his  efforts  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  Cham- 
berlain's successor.  The  needful  reinforcements  soon 
reached  Garvock's  camp.  Ambela  was  stormed  in  De- 
cember, and  some  of  our  late  foes  were  glad  enough  to 
show  their  victors  the  way  to  Malta,  the  chief  seat  of  the 
Sitana  fanatics.  With  the  utter  destruction  of  that  place 
the  war  was  over,  and  a  wholesome  fear  of  English  prowess 
kept  the  rude  highlanders  of  those  regions  quiet  for  years 
to  come. 

In  January  of  the  following  year  Sir  W.  Denison  made 
over  the  seals  of  government  to  Sir  John  Lawrence,  the 
first  Bengal  civilian  who  had  ever  been  formally  appointed 
Governor- General  of  India  since  the  days  of  Sir  John 
Shore.  His  return  to  the  country  where  he  had  lived 
and  laboui-ed  for  so  many  years  was  hailed  by  his  coun- 
trymen as  a  just  reward  for  his  splendid  services  in  1857. 
After  spending  the  summer  months  at  Simla,  Sir  John  pro- 
ceeded to  meet  his  old  friends  and  followers  at  Labor.  In 
simple  but  impressive  terms  he  told  the  assembled  Sikh 
chiefs  and  gentlemen  of  the  interest  which  the  Queen  of 
England  took  in  then-  well-being,  and  passed  in  brief  review 
the  efi'orts  made  by  successive  Enghsh  rulers,  from  Sir 
Henry  Lawrence  to  Sir  Robert  Montgomery,  to  fm-ther  that 
well-being  in  every  possible  way. 

Meanwhile  a  Uttle  war  was  unwillingly  opened  with  the 
rulers  of  Bhotiin,  a  httle  Himalayan  state  to  the  north  of 
Assam.  For  some  years  past  the  Bhotia  highlanders  had 
made  frequent  inroads  into  British  ground  lying  at  the  foot 
of  their  hills,  and  claimed  by  their  chiefs  as  part  of 
Bhotan.  In  1863  the  Hon.  Mr.  Ashley  Eden  had  been 
sent  to  treat  with  the  Bhotan  government  on  behalf  of  the 
British  subjects  who  had  been  kidnapped  in  these  raids. 
The  utter  failure  of  the  mission  was  crowned  by  the  in- 


884  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

suits  heaped  upon  the  envoy  himself.  In  fear  of  his  life 
he  had  to  sign  a  treaty  surrendering  the  very  lands  in  dis- 
pute. After  some  vain  attempts  to  patch  up  the  quarrel 
and  gain  redress  for  the  outrage,  Sir  John  Lawrence  in 
November  1864  declared  war  against  Bhotan.  A  small 
force  entered  the  hills ;  but  mismanagement  and  a  sickly 
season  delayed  its  progress ;  some  of  our  troops  on  one 
occasion  were  disgracefully  defeated,  and  not  till  some 
months  later  was  the  enemy  driven  to  sue  for  peace  and 
give  sure  pledges  for  its  maintenance. 

From  that  time  no  other  warlike  movement  disturbed 
the  general  quiet,  until  1868,  when  a  rising  of  lawless 
Waghirs  in  Katiawar  had  to  be  quelled  by  an  armed  force. 
Later  in  the  year  the  Afghan  tribes  of  the  Black  Moun- 
tain, not  far  from  Sitana,  egged  on  by  Wahabi  refugees 
from  Patna,  provoked  speedy  punishment  for  a  daring 
outrage  on  the  Panjab  frontier.  Determined  this  time  to 
do  nothing  by  halves,  Sir  John  ordered  a  strong  force 
under  General  Wylde  to  march  towards  the  Black  Moun- 
tain. In  three  weeks  the  invading  columns  had  dealt  the 
hni-tribes  such  a  blow,  that  chief  after  chief  threw  himself 
and  his  clansmen  on  the  invader's  mercy,  and  the  plotters 
who  had  stirred  them  up  to  acts  of  violence  were  glad  to 
seek  safer  hiding-places  elsewhere. 

The  history  of  Sir  Robert  Napier's  well-planned  and 
thoroughly  successful  march  to  Magdala,  the  capital  of 
King  Theodore,  the  headstrong  ruler  of  Abyssinia,  is  not 
to  be  told  in  these  pages.  It  must  not,  however,  be  over- 
looked that  the  troops  whom  Napier  led  to  victory  in 
1868  were  largely  composed  of  Sikh  regiments  from 
India,  that  the  task  of  equipping  them  and  feeding  them 
on  the  march  devolved  on  otJicers  of  the  Indian  Govern- 
ment, and  that  Napier  himself,  as  an  officer  of  Bengal 
Engineers,  had  won  his  laurels  in  many  an  Indian  field. 
In  the  preparations  for  this  campaign  the  Viceroy  himself 
played  a  useful  and  important  part. 


LORD    ELGIN'    AND    SIR    JOHN"    LAWTtENCE.  385 

A  steady  friend  to  peaceful  progress,  Sir  John  Lawrence 
withstood  all  temptations  to  meddle  in  the  aflfairs  of  his 
Afghan  neighbours.  On  the  death  of  Dost  Mohammad  in 
1863,  a  long  straggle  for  the  throne  of  Kabul  ensued  be- 
tween his  sons  Mohammad  Afzul  Khiin  and  Sher  Ali 
Khan.  The  latter,  whom  his  father  had  chosen  for  his 
heir  in  preference  to  either  of  his  eldest  sons,  applied  to 
the  Indian  Government  for  help  against  his  insurgent  bro- 
ther. Beyond  acknowledging  Sher  Ali  as  king  for  the 
time  being,  Sir  John  Lawrence  declined  to  interfere.  A 
just  dread  of  embroiling  Lidia  in  the  domestic  quarrels  of 
a  turbulent  neighbour  decided  him  to  watch  the  progress 
of  events  across  the  frontier,  and  do  nothing  which  could 
give  either  party  fair  cause  for  complaint.  The  strife  be- 
tween the  brothers  raged  with  varying  fortune,  and  victory 
for  a  moment  seemed  to  have  finally  turned  the  scales 
against  Sher  Ali  Khan.  Afzul  Khan  in  his  turn  was  ac- 
knowledged as  the  actual  ruler  of  Kabul  and  Kandahar, 
while  Sher  Ali  retained  possession  of  Herat.  Once  more, 
however,  fortune  smiled  on  the  latter.  On  the  death  of 
Afzul  Khan  his  next  brother,  Azim  Khan,  took  his  place  at 
Kabul,  but  not  for  long.  The  dethroned  Sher  Ali  set  out 
from  Herat,  and,  fighting  his  way  back  to  Kabul,  once 
more  became  the  acknowledged  ruler  of  his  father's  realm. 
Before  the  end  of  1868  he  was  firmly  seated  on  the  throne 
from  which  he  had  been  driven  three  years  before  ;  and 
Sir  John's  successor  was  enabled  to  reap  the  fruits  of  a 
poUcy  which  the  event  had  folly  justified. 

The  five  years  of  Sir  John's  rule  were  years  on  the 
whole  of  peace  and  marked  prosperity.  Li  Western  and 
Central  Lidia  new  soirrces  of  wealth  had  been  opened  up  to 
manv  classes  bv  the  great  demand  for  Lidian  cotton  which 
sprang  out  of  the  American  war.  For  several  years  a 
golden  stream  kept  flowing  fast  into  the  country.  Cotton 
and  railways  brought  untold  plenty  to  miUions  who  had 
hitherto  earned  their  three  or  four  rupees  a  month.  The 
2c 


886  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

poorest  Rayat  became  suddenly  rich.  His  old  mud  hnt 
was  replaced  by  a  roomier  dwelling  of  brick  or  stone.  His 
wife  and  daughters  decked  themselves  in  jewels  of  price. 
Earthenware  pots  gave  way  to  vessels  of  brass,  copper, 
and  even  silver.  Every  coolie — said  one  who  hved  among 
them — "  took  to  dressing  like  a  Brahman."  In  many 
cases  old  caste-distinctions  were  broken  down  by  the 
growing  self-esteem  that  comes  of  growing  wealth. 
Bombay  itself  went  mad  over  new  schemes  for  making 
money ;  and  the  great  commercial  crash  of  1865,  the 
natural  result  of  reckless  gambling  in  trade  matters,  dealt 
sudden  ruin  among  many  households.  But  the  ruin  did 
not  spread  far  outside  the  Western  capital.  Most  of  the 
new  wealth  remained  in  the  country,  enriching  the  mass  of 
traders,  husbandmen,  and  artisans,  turning  the  waste 
lands  into  fruitful  fields,  giving  new  hfe  to  the  cotton- 
looms  of  Nagpur,  and  increasing  the  public  revenue  in  divers 
ways.  Bombay  itself,  when  the  storm  blew  over,  could  still 
export  more  than  a  milhon  bales  of  cotton  in  one  season,  and 
point  to  a  foreign  trade  worth  about  forty  millions  a-year. 
Under  the  active  rule  of  Sir  Richard  Temple  the  Cen- 
tral Provinces,  which  had  been  formed  in  1861  out  of  old 
Bengal  districts  and  later  annexations,  rose  in  a  few  years 
to  a  rare  height  of  weU-ordered  prospei"ity.  By  1868 
their  foreign  trade  had  swollen  in  value  from  two  and 
a-half  to  thirteen  miUions,  and  the  number  of  schools  had 
risen  from  four  to  249.  A  line  of  railway  linked  Nagpur 
with  Bombay  and  the  cotton-fields  of  Berar,  while  rich 
streams  of  traific  from  nearly  all  parts  of  India  found 
their  meeting-point  at  Jabalpiir.  In  British  Bnrmah  the 
mild  sway  of  Sir  Arthur  Phayre  did  much  to  further  the 
well-being  of  that  young,  loyal,  and  rising  pro\ince.  In 
twelve  years  its  population  was  doubled,  pai'tly  by  immi- 
grants from  across  the  Burmau  frontier ;  its  revenues  had 
increased  to  the  same  extent,  and  its  foreign  trade  had 
risen  to  the  value  of  ten  millions  a-year. 


IXJRD    ELGIN    AND    SIR    JOHN    LA^TtENCE.  387 

Andh,  the  granary  of  Upper  India,  had  little  cause  to 
repent  the  old  days  of  Mohammadan  misrule.  The  people 
at  large  were  prosperous  and  contented ;  new  schools 
sprang  up  everywhere  ;  railways  and  canals  were  flinging 
abroad  the  seeds  of  golden  harvests  ;  and  its  rulers  found 
wiUing  and  enlightened  helpmates  in  the  Talukdars,  whose 
submission  to  our  rule  had  been  rewarded  by  the  restora- 
tion of  their  former  rights  and  powers.  What  causes  of 
dilJerence  at  first  lay  seething  between  them  and  the 
tenant-farmers  of  a  certain  standing,  were  dispelled  or 
abated  by  the  measure  which  Sir  John  Lawrence  carried 
in  1866  for  securing  the  right  of  hereditary  cultivators  to 
hold  their  lands  at  the  old  accustomed  rates. 

The  Panjab,  Dalhousie's  model  province,  had  thriven 
steadily  under  the  rule  of  Sir  Robert  Montgomery  and  his 
widely-loved  successor.  Sir  Donald  McLeod.  In  no  other 
part  of  British  India  did  the  people  show  equal  readiuess 
to  pluek  the  best  fruits  of  Western  civilisation.  The 
North-Westem  Provinces  were  fast  recovering  from  the 
combined  effects  of  the  great  mutiny  and  the  famine  of 
1861.  Railways  and  public  works  gave  a  new  impulse  to 
trade  and  labour,  while  irrigation  doubled  and  trebled 
the  produce  of  the  fruitful  plains  between  the  Ganges  and 
the  Janma.  When  drought  once  more  visited  these  pro- 
■vinees  in  1868  its  worst  horrors  were  averted  by  the  new 
growth  of  railways  and  canals.  Distress  there  was,  of 
course,  in  some  places,  but  the  great  Ganges  Canal,  with 
its  650  miles  of  main  stream  and  3,000  of  branch  chan- 
nels, saved  nearly  a  million  acres  from  drying  up.  A  like 
service  on  a  smaller  scale  was  rendered  by  the  Eastern 
Jamna  Canal  and  the  channels  that  water  Rohilkhand  and 
Dera  Dhiin,  while  the  surplus  grain  of  Audh  was  poured 
by  rail  into  those  districts  where  the  drought  was  sorest.* 

Less  fortunate  were  the  sufferers  in  Orissa  during  the 

»  In  RdjpnWna,  however,  there  was  great  distress  from  the  drought 
of  1868. 

2c2 


868  HISTOUY    OF    INDIA. 

groat  famine  of  1866.  A  scanty  rainfall  in  the  previous 
year  had  been  followed  by  a  widespread  dearth.  The 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  Bengal  shut  his  eyes  to  the  tokens 
of  coming  disaster,  until  it  was  too  late  to  pour  in  supphes 
of  food  by  sea.  Before  relief  came  with  the  close  of  the 
next  rainy  reason,  nearly  a  million  souls  had  died  of 
hunger  or  disease  in  a  province  containing  about  four 
millions.  In  the  neighbouring  province  of  Madras  a  like 
disaster  was  averted  by  the  zeal  with  which  its  governor. 
Lord  Napier,  took  timely  measures  to  relieve  his  sufiering 
people.  Maisor  also  in  the  following  year  was  saved  by 
the  efforts  of  its  English  rulers  from  much  of  the  suffering 
threatened  by  a  sudden  drought. 

During  these  years  the  whole  foreign  trade  of  British 
India  rose  to  about  a  hundred  millions  sterUng  a-year,  or 
nearly  four  times  as  much  as  the  total  for  1848.  The 
revenues  of  the  country  had  increased  in  eleven  years 
from  thirty  to  nearly  fifty  millions,  about  five  of  which 
went  to  pay  interest  on  the  public  debt.  More  than 
1,500  miles  of  new  railway  had  been  laid  down  in  the 
last  five  years  on  the  Unes  projected  by  Lord  Dalhousie. 
In  almost  every  province  new  works  of  irrigation  were 
steadily  carried  forward,  or  new  embankments  raised  to 
lessen  the  mischief  caused  by  sudden  floods.  The  warm 
interest  which  Sir  John  took  in  the  well-being  of  his 
European  soldiers  displayed  itself  in  the  building  of  new 
barracks  at  a  heavy  cost,  while  the  safety  of  the  empire 
against  future  revolts  was  ensured  by  the  construction  of 
fortified  posts,  which  might  serve  at  once  to  protect  our 
arsenals,  overawe  the  surrounding  country,  and  furnish 
shelter  for  our  countrymen  in  time  of  need. 

In  each  of  the  three  presidencies  a  sanitary  commissioner 
was  for  the  first  time  entrusted  with  the  duty  of  planning 
measures  for  improving  the  general  health  of  the  people 
and  guarding  the  military  and  civil  stations  from  attacks 
of  proveutible  disease.     In  aid  of  the  former  object  muni- 


LORD  KLGIN  AND  SIR  JOHN  LAWRENCt.       389 

cipal  committees,  formed  largely  of  natives,  and  headed  by 
the  civil  officers  of  districts,  wore  for  the  first  time  estab- 
lished in  the  chief  towns  of  the  North- Western  Provinces, 
with  power  to  raise  taxes  for  sanitary  purposes  on  the 
towns  and  villages  placed  under  their  control.  Important 
reforms  were  also  carried  out  in  the  pohce  of  each  province 
and  in  the  management  of  the  central  jails. 

Great  progress  had  meanwhile  been  made  in  the  work 
of  popular  education.  The  State  outlay  on  schools  and 
colleges  had  risen  in  ton  years  from  £100,000  to  £800,000, 
the  number  of  pupils  from  40,000  to  700,000,  and  the 
number  of  schools  and  colleges,  supported  wholly  or  in 
part  by  public  funds,  from  a  few  hundred  to  nearly  10,000. 
Every  province  bad  its  own  staff  of  paid  teachers,  from 
the  chief  director  to  the  humblest  of  village  schoolmasters. 
The  vernacular,  middle,  and  high  schools  in  each  district 
were  linked  together  by  means  of  scholarships,  which 
enabled  the  best  pupils  to  work  their  way  up  from  the 
village  scliool  to  the  local  college.  Normal  schools  were 
training  the  youth  of  one  generation  to  become  the  teachers 
of  the  next.  54,000  girls  were  already  learning  their 
lessons  in  2,000  schools,  while  training-schools  for  women 
sprang  up  here  and  there  under  English  ladies.  Mission 
and  private  schools  added  thousands  of  scholars  to  the 
general  sum.  In  many  districts  natives  of  rank  and 
wealth  came  forward  with  large  subscriptions  for  the 
diffusion  of  knowledge  among  their  countrymen.  Some  of 
the  native  princes — notably  those  of  Jaipur,  Kolapiir,  and 
Travankor,  were  already  following  the  good  example  of 
their  neighbours  within  the  British  pale. 

Much  of  the  impulse  so  given  to  the  spread  of  popular 
instruction  may  be  traced  to  the  unwearied  efforts  and 
strong  personal  influence  of  Sir  John  Lawrence  himself 
To  him  also  was  largely  owing  the  first  successful  attempt 
to  bring  the  management  of  Indian  forests  under  the 
nursing  care  of  the  State.     In  some  other  du-ections  his 


HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

hand  was  equally  visible.  He  placed  the  cotton-culture  of 
India  under  the  charge  of  a  special  commissioner.  Manj 
hundred  miles  were  added  to  the  telegraph  lines,  and  a 
message  could  be  flashed  from  one  end  of  India  to  the 
other  for  a  uniform  charge  of  one  rupee.  The  ruler  of 
Kashmir  was  persuaded  to  abohsh  or  reduce  the  tolls 
which  hampered  the  growth  of  Indian  trade  with  Ladakh 
and  Turkistan.  Like  concessions  were  at  length  obtained 
from  the  headstrong  King  of  Burmah ;  and  the  first 
attempt  at  opening  Western  China  to  oui-  Indian  trade  was 
made  in  1868,  when  Captain  Sladen  set  off  fi'om  Mandalay, 
the  new  Burman  capital,  on  his  exploring  mission  to 
Bhamo  and  Momein.  Had  the  Burmese  officers  proved 
as  friendly  as  the  Panthay  rulers  of  Yunan,  that  journey 
might  have  solved  the  question  of  carrjdng  English  wares 
from  the  Irawadi  to  the  Yangtsi. 

Early  in  January,  1869,  Sir  John  Lawrence  took  his 
final  leave  of  the  country  in  which  he  had  spent  the  best 
years  of  a  useful  and  eventful  Hfe.  One  of  his  last  acts 
was  to  double  the  standard  weight  of  letters  carried  for 
half  an  anna.  At  the  last  sitting  of  his  council  he  passed 
a  Bill  enabling  the  Taliikdars  of  Audh  to  borrow  money 
from  the  Government  in  time  of  need,  on  the  principles 
afready  applied  in  Bombay.  On  his  retm-n  to  England, 
worn  out  with  ceaseless  toiling  for  the  public  good,  he 
obtained  the  peerage  to  which  no  Uving  Enghshman  could 
have  shown  so  strong  a  claim,  and  which  the  general  voice 
of  his  countrymen  would  have  awarded  him  ten  years 
before. 


301 


CHAPTER  III. 

LORD  MAYO  AND  LORD  NORTHBROOK 1869-1873. 

Lord  Lawrence  was  succeeded  by  the  Earl  of  Mayo,  a 
statesman  of  some  mark  in  Lord  Derby's  Government.  A 
few  weeks  after  his  landing  at  Calcutta  the  new  Viceroy 
set  out  to  exchange  greetings  with  Sher  Ali,  whose  crown- 
ing victory  over  his  brother's  troops  at  Ghazni  had  once 
more  placed  him  firmly  on  the  throne  of  Dost  Mohanmiad. 
At  the  magnificent  Darbar  of  Ambala,  in  the  last  days  of 
March,  18G9,  the  war-worn  Amir  of  Kabul  gave  Lord  Mayo 
a  rare  opportunitj-  of  playing  at  once  the  powerful  patron 
and  the  winning  host.  For  ten  thousand  pounds  a  month 
and  a  few  thousand  muskets  Sher  Ali  agreed  to  be  the 
friend  of  our  friends  and  the  enemy  of  our  enemies. 
The  lessons  learned  by  him  during  that  visit  were  not 
forgotten  after  his  return  home,  and  the  friendly  motives 
which  had  brought  him  so  far  away  from  his  own  dominions 
were  not  a  little  strengthened  by  Lord  Mayo's  kindly  bear- 
ing and  gi-aoeful  words. 

The  famine  of  the  past  year  was  still  sore  in  Rajputana. 
Li  spite  of  the  rehef-measm-es  ordained  by  Colonel  Keat- 
inge,  and  promoted  by  some  of  the  native  princes,  half  a 
million  beings  were  said  to  have  died  of  hunger  or  disease, 
while  nearly  all  the  cattle  perished  or  were  driven  beyond 
the  border.  The  summer  rains  fell  just  in  time  to  save 
the  Panjab  and  Central  India  from  a  like  fate.  Later  in 
the  year  fever  raged  among  the  marshy  jungles  of  Hughli 
and  Bardwan.  Trade  declined,  and  the  public  revenue 
fell   far   short  of  the  estimated   yield.     Lord  Mayo   set 


392  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

himself  to  the  work  of  retrenchment  with  more  perhaps 
of  zeal  than  discretion.  The  outlay  on  pubhc  works  was 
cut  down  in  all  directions.  The  income-tax  was  doubled 
in  the  autumn  of  1869,  and  trebled  in  the  spring  of  1870. 
By  this  measure,  which  aimed  at  drawing  money  from 
the  pockets  of  the  wealthier  trading-classes,  the  Viceroy 
and  his  finance-minister,  Sir  R.  Temple,  succeeded  in 
restoring  the  balance  between  outlay  and  income  at  the 
cost  of  their  own  popularity  and  of  untold  oppression  on 
the  part  of  their  native  underlings.  For  every  rupee 
which  reached  the  Treasury,  at  least  three  or  four  were 
squeezed  by  native  harpies  for  their  own  profit  from  the 
fears  or  needs  of  their  helpless  countrj-meu.  The  rich 
gave  bribes  to  escape  their  due  share  of  the  hated  impost ; 
the  poor  were  frightened  into  paying  unlawful  demands,  or 
punished  for  their  resistance  by  the  seizure  and  forced 
sale  of  their  few  goods.  Meetings  against  a  tax  denounced 
for  one  reason  or  another  by  all  classes  and  colours  were 
held  in  nearly  all  the  chief  towns  and  stations  of  India ; 
petition  after  petition  was  sent  up  by  the  Chambers  of 
Commerce,  and  other  bodies  representing  European  or 
native  interests  :  the  newspapers  teemed  with  instances  of 
hardship  or  extortion ;  and  the  Government  found  itself 
at  issue  with  some  of  its  oldest  and  ablest  officers,  notably 
with  Sir  WiUiam  Muir,  the  enhghtened  ruler  of  the  North- 
Westem  Provinces. 

All  this,  however,  failed  for  the  time  to  secure  the 
removal  or  abatement  of  an  impost  utterly  at  war  with 
native  usages  and  modes  of  feeling.  Lord  Mayo  lived, 
indeed,  to  own  his  error  ;  but  loyalty  to  his  ministers  and 
the  India  Office  stayed  his  hands,  and  for  his  successor 
was  to  be  reserved  the  credit  of  doing  away  wiih  the 
obnoxious  tax. 

The  landing  of  Prince  Alfred,  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  at 
Calcutta,  in  the  last  days  of  1869,  served  for  a  time  to 
draw  people's  minds  away  from  their  fiscal  grievances  to 


LORD  MAYO  AND  LORD  NORTHBROOK.        393 

the  progress  of  their  princely  visitor  through  his  mother's 
Indian  realms.  His  welcome  everywhere  was  all  that  his 
own  countr3Tnen  could  have  desired.  Lord  Mayo's  taste 
for  pageantry  shone  out  in  the  great  Calcutta  Darbar,  at 
which  the  Prince  was  invested  with  the  Star  of  India 
amidst  a  picturesque  and  splendid  gathering  of  English 
officers  and  native  chiefs.  The  Prince  was  royally  feasted 
by  the  native  gentry  of  the  capital.  Hospitable  Rajahs 
found  sport  for  him  on  his  upward  jom-ney.  The  great 
cities  of  Upper  India  received  him  with  all  befitting  honour. 
His  visit  to  Luckuow  was  greeted  by  a  brilliant  gathering 
of  loyal  Talukdars.  On  the  7th  March  he  played  his  part 
in  the  formal  opening  of  the  railway  that  links  Jabalpiir 
with  Bombay  and  Allahabad.  The  capital  of  Western 
India  entertained  him  with  becoming  splendour  for  several 
days  ;  nor  was  Madras  at  all  behindhand  in  her  eflbrts  to 
amuse  and  honour  the  departing  guest. 

In  spite  of  his  economical  efforts,  Lord  Mayo  gave  his 
best  energies  to  the  pushing  forward  of  useful  public 
works.  On  the  score  of  cheapness  a  new  system  of  State 
railways  was  set  on  foot,  to  continue  and  complete  the 
work  begun  by  the  guaranteed  companies.  The  irst  of 
the  new  lines,  the  Khangaum  Railway,  which  links  the 
cotton  marts  of  Berar  to  the  port  of  Bombay,  was  opened 
early  in  1870  by  the  Viceroy  himself.  Other  lines  destined 
to  tap  the  salt-bearing  districts  in  Audh,  the  Panjab,  and 
Rajputana,  were  begun  or  projected.  The  first  sod  of  a 
State  railway  from  Labor  to  Peshawar  was  turned  in  1870. 
On  the  older  Lines  steady  progress  continued  to  be  made. 
The  opening  of  the  great  bridge  over  the  Satlaj  in  October 
completed  the  line  of  railway  from  Bombay,  through 
Allahabad  and  Dehli,  to  Labor.  Only  a  link  or  two  was 
yet  wanting  in  the  iron  chain  which  bound  Madras  to 
Bombay.  On  the  last  day  of  1870  the  Eastern  Bengal 
Railway  was  completed  to  Goalando,  in  Assam.  New 
roads  and  canals  were  making  everywhere,  new  schools 


394  HISTOBY    OF    INDU. 

wero  founded  in  every  province,  a  new  department  of 
trade  and  agriculture  was  called  into  being,  and  the 
opening  of  coal-mines  in  the  Wardah  Valley  gave  promise 
of  a  time  when  the  railways  in  Western  India  would  cease 
to  depend  on  English  coal. 

The  year  1871  opened  with  the  untimely  death  of  Sir 
Henry  Durand,  whose  long  and  able  services  had  only 
seven  months  before  been  crowned  by  his  promotion  from 
a  seat  in  the  Viceroy's  CouncU  to  the  government  of  tlie 
Paujab,  in  the  room  of  Sir  Donald-  McLeod.  Before  the 
end  of  January  the  peace  of  India  was  once  more  broken 
by  bands  of  Loshai  savages,  whose  murderous  raid  across 
the  Bengal  frontier  spread  havoc  among  the  outlying 
tea-gardens  of  Kachar.  Troops  and  poUcemen  were  sent 
off  to  guard  the  frontier  from  furtlier  ravages  ;  but,  owing 
to  the  lateness  of  the  season,  no  attempt  could  then  be 
made  to  pursue  the  raiders  into  their  pathless  jungles. 
In  November,  however,  two  columns,  under  Generals 
Bourchier  and  Brownlow,  set  out  from  different  points  on 
their  toilsome  march  through  a  land  of  swamps  and  dense 
bamboo  jungle,  broken  by  a  succession  of  steep  hills,  each 
crowned  by  a  stockaded  village.  Both  columns  slowly 
forced  their  way  through  aU  obstacles,  beating  the  enemy 
wherever  they  made  a  stand,  and  bearing  hardships  of 
everj'  kind  with  the  cheerfulness  of  soldiers  confident  in 
their  leaders  and  in  themselves.  By  the  end  of  February, 
1872,  their  work  was  over,  the  Haulong  and  SaUu  chiefs 
had  yielded  at  discretion,  and  the  troops  quietly  marched 
back  across  their  own  frontier  before  the  rains  set  in. 
Theu'  success  was  largely  owing  to  the  careful  arrangements 
planned  at  the  outset  by  Lord  Napier  of  Magdala,  the 
Commander-in-Chief. 

Meanwhile  the  Wahiibi  plotters  in  Bengal  had  received 
a  severe  check  from  the  trial  and  condemnation  of  Amir 
Khan  and  some  of  his  accomplices.  In  the  Panjab  a  new 
danger  to  the  public  peace  revealed  itself  in  a  number  of 


LORD  MAYO  AND  LORD  NORTHBROOK.        395 

murderous  outrages  inflicted  on  harmless  Mussulman 
butchers  by  Sikh  fanatics  of  the  new  Kiika  sect,  whose 
leader  was  Ram  Singh.  Condign  punishment  overtook 
the  murderers ;  but  some  of  their  brotherhood  had  yet  to 
learn  the  folly  of  defying  a  powerful  Government.  In  the 
middle  of  January,  1872,  while  British  troops  from  Upper 
India  were  massed  in  the  Camp  of  Exercise  near  Dehli,  a 
few  hundred  of  these  fanatics  sought  to  raise  the  Panjab 
by  a  sudden  rush  into  the  fort  of  Malodh,  and  a  daring 
attack  on  the  town  of  Malair-Kotla  in  Sirhind.  Baffled 
in  the  latter  attempt,  they  were  speedily  hunted  down  by 
the  Deputy-Commissioner,  Mr.  Cowan,  and  the  disai-med 
remnant  were  blown  away  from  guns,  with  a  merciless 
contempt  of  rules  which  evoked  the  just  censure  of  the 
Indian  Government. 

In  his  foreign  policy  Lord  Mayo  was  equally  cautious 
and  successful.  When  civil  war  raged  between  Sher  Ali 
and  the  unfilial  Yakiib  Khan,  the  Viceroy's  friendly 
counsels  bore  fruit  in  the  timely  reconcihation  of  the 
combatants,  and  in  a  large  concession  to  the  just  demands 
of  Sher  All's  ablest  and  most  popular  son.  An  old 
boundary  dispute  between  Persia  and  Khelat  was  finally 
settled  by  Sir  Frederick  Goldsmid,  acting  as  umpire  for 
the  Indian  Government.  A  like  dispute  between  Persia 
and  Afghanistan  regarding  Sistan  was  in  course  of  settle- 
ment by  the  same  officer.  The  King  of  Burmah  was  at 
length  persuaded  to  proclaim  free  trade  throughout  his 
dominions.  In  the  quarrels  of  petty  potentates  on  the 
Persian  Gulf,  Lord  Mayo  interfered  only  when  they  seemed 
to  imperil  the  interests  of  British  subjects.  Over  the 
Indian  chiefs  and  nobles  who  thronged  to  his  frequent 
Darbars,  his  fine  tact  and  com-tly  breeding  conspired  with 
a  certain  taste  for  pomp  and  splendour  to  strengthen 
the  influence  naturally  due  to  his  viceregal  rank  and 
powers. 

Like  many  of  his  predecessors,  he  displayed  a  keen 


896  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

appetite  for  hwd  work,  and  a  searching  eye  for  details, 
however  trifling.  One  of  his  rides  before  breakfast  would 
have  been  for  most  men  a  good  day's  work.  Now  hunjing 
from  one  frontier  post  to  another,  anon  inspecting  the  site 
for  a  new  hill-station;  one  while  opening  a  new  line  of 
railway  ia  a  cotton  district,  at  another  exchanging  courtesies 
with  the  high-born  princes  of  Eajputana  or  pohtical  talk 
with  the  Maharajah  of  Kashmir ;  he  went  everywhere, 
saw  and  heard  everything  for  himself,  and  turned  his  new 
knowledge  to  the  best  account.  The  abuses  he  discovered 
in  the  department  of  Public  Works  were  exposed  and 
repressed  with  a  single  eye  for  the  public  good.  Few- 
Viceroys  have  ever  taken  a  keener  or  more  inteUigent 
interest  in  all  schemes  for  developing  India's  productive 
wealth  ;  nor  did  even  Lord  William  Bentinck  show  greater 
zeal  in  the  task  of  keeping  down  the  gi'owing  outlay  at 
the  least  possible  sacrifice  of  the  public  needs. 

During  these  years  many  useful  and  important  measures 
became  law.  A  Hindu  Wills  Act,  framed  by  ]\Ii'.  Fitzjames 
Stephen,  Law  Member  of  the  Council,  gave  a  legal  sanction 
to  practices  more  or  less  conflicting  with  old  Hindu  usage. 
The  Panjab  Tenancy  Act  defined  and  guarded  the  rights 
of  occupiers  under  former  settlements.  A  new  amendment 
of  the  Penal  Code  assimilated  the  Indian  law  against 
sedition  to  that  of  England.  Bills  for  legahsing  the 
marriages  of  Brahmists  and  other  dissenters  from  the 
prevailing  creeds  were  carried  after  much  debating.  An 
important  measure  for  dealing  with  the  criminal  tribes  of 
India,  and  an  Act  for  checking  the  nuisance  of  European 
loafers,  were  likewise  passed.  In  the  Bengal  Legislature 
fresh  safeguards  were  enacted  on  behalf  of  Coohe  emigrants 
to  the  tea-gardens  of  Assam.  The  Government  of  Bengal 
was  for  the  first  time  empowered  to  raise  cesses  on  the 
land  for  the  extension  of  roads  and  schools.  In  England 
an  Act  was  passed  in  1860  which  limited  the  service  of 
members  of   the  Home  Council  to  ten  years,   and  took 


LORD  MAYO  AND  LORD  NORTHBROOK.         397 

away  from  the  Council  itself  the  right  of  appointing  half 
its  own  number. 

A  yet  more  important  measure  of  administrative  reform 
was  applied  in  1871,  when  the  local  governments  ■were 
for  the  first  time  entrusted  with  the  miinagement  of  all 
revenues  required  for  local  purposes.  By  this  arrangement 
a  due  proportion  of  the  imperial  revenues  was  yearly 
allotted  to  the  several  provinces  for  disbursement  on 
roads,  schools,  jails,  police,  and  some  other  items  hitherto 
supervised  by  the  Central  Government.  Thenceforth  each 
local  governor  was  free  to  frame  his  own  budget,  to  spend 
as  he  might  deem  best  the  money  assigned  him  from  the 
common  fund,  and  to  raise  new  taxes  at  need  from  his 
own  province  in  aid  of  the  purposes  for  which  that  money 
was  to  be  assigned.  A  new  guarantee  for  thrift  in  pro- 
vincial outlay  was  thus  supplied  by  the  transfer  to  provincial 
rulers  of  a  part  of  the  power  hitherto  wielded  by  the 
Central  Government  alone. 

Lord  Mayo's  active  and  useful  career  was  suddenly  cut 
short  by  the  knife  of  an  assassin  on  a  remote  island  in 
the  Bay  of  Bengal.  On  the  24th  January,  1872,  he 
embarked  from  Calcutta  on  a  tour  of  inspection  whose 
promised  goal  was  Orissa.  Some  days  of  busy  sight-seeing 
were  spent  at  Kangoon  and  Maulmain.  On  the  8th 
February  he  reached  Port  Blair,  to  examine  for  himself 
the  new  convict  settlement  in  the  Andaman  Islands. 
After  a  hard  day's  work  he  reached  the  pier,  where  a  boat 
was  waiting  to  carry  him  and  his  party  aboard  their  vessel. 
The  brief  twilight  of  the  tropics  had  already  faded  into 
night.  In  a  moment  an  unseen  convict,  a  Pathan  who 
had  been  transported  for  murder  done  in  the  Panjab, 
sprang  out  of  the  darkness,  and,  before  help  could  reach 
his  victim,  the  stroke  had  been  dealt  which  deprived  India 
of  an  able  ruler,  and  the  native  princes  of  a  wise  and 
honoured  friend.  In  another  moment  the  murderer  was 
pinned   by  those   around  him,   but   his    sharp   knife   and 


398  HISTOBY    OF    INDIA. 

strong  arm  had  done  their  work.  Half-an-hour  afterwai'ds 
Lord  Mayo  breathed  his  last,  a  victim  to  the  frenzy  of  a 
young  savage  soured  by  brooding  over  his  fancied  wrongs, 
and  reckless  of  the  means  he  took  to  gratify  at  once  his 
thirst  for  vengeance  and  his  fanaticism 

The  tidings  of  Lord  Mayo's  death  thrilled  all  India  with 
horror  and  genuine  grief.  All  classes  of  his  subjects 
mourned  the  loss  of  a  ruler  whose  winning  manners  and 
honest  zeal  for  the  pubhc  good  had  secured  the  affection 
or  the  respect  even  of  those  who  disliked  some  parts  of 
his  public  policy.  Hindus  and  Mohammadans  alike  came 
forward  to  express  their  loyal  sympathy  with  the  widow 
of  a  Viceroy  whose  strong  good  sense  had  bidden  fair  to 
undo  the  mischief  caused  by  his  earlier  fiscal  measures, 
and  whose  efforts  to  redress  or  abate  Mohammadan 
grievances  were  already  bearing  fruit  when  the  hand  of 
a  Mussulman  savage  laid  him  low.  On  the  princes  and 
nobles  of  India  his  death  came  like  a  personal  bereavement. 
Sindia's  exclamation,  "I  have  made  and  lost  a  friend," 
bore  touching  witness  to  the  kindly  tact  and  skill  with 
which  Lord  Mayo  won  the  hearts  and  moulded  the  poUcy 
of  the  native  rulers.  As  a  personal  fi'iend,  indeed,  he  was 
mourned  not  only  by  the  highest  in  the  land,  but  by  all 
who  had  ever  felt  the  charm  of  personal  intercourse  with 
perhaps  the  most  genial  statesman  of  his  day. 

For  a  few  months  his  place  was  worthily  filled  by  Lord 
Napier,  the  retiring  Governor  of  Madias.  Early  in  May, 
however,  the  new  Viceroy,  Lord  Northbrook,  took  up  the 
reins  of  government  at  Calcutta,  laden  with  the  fruits  of 
a  long  previous  training  in  the  India  Office,  the  Admiralty, 
the  War  Office,  and  one  or  two  other  departments  of  the 
State.  His  new  career  may  be  said  to  have  begun  at 
Simla,  where,  in  compliance  with  recent  usage,  he  and  his 
Council  passed  the  hot  and  rainy  season  of  1872.  One  of 
his  first  acts  betrayed  a  becoming  care  to  walk  in  the  steps 
of  his  latest  predecessors.     The  Russian  conquerors  of 


LORD  MAYO  AND  LORD  NORTHBROOK.        399 

Bokhara  were  about  to  punish  the  Ivhiin  of  Kliiva,  the 
ancient  Kharizm,  for  the  many  outrages  inflicted  year  by 
year  on  Russian  subjects  by  his  man-stealing  and  mur- 
dering Turkmans.  An  envoy  from  Khiva  besought  Lord 
Northbrook  to  step  in  between  his  master  and  the  coming 
danger.  Lord  Xorthbrook  answered  by  a  friendly  message 
counselling  the  Khan  to  oft'er  timely  amends  for  the 
misdeeds  laid  to  his  account.  Had  his  advice  been 
honestly  followed,  perhaps  the  Russian  advance  to  Eiiva 
in  1873  might  never  have  taken  place. 

After  some  months  spent  in  useful  if  unobtrusive  work, 
the  new  Viceroy  set  out  in  October  on  a  tour  of  inquiry 
through  nearly  all  the  chief  towns  of  Northern,  Western, 
and  Central  Lidia,  from  Labor  to  Bombay  and  Jabalpiir. 
Darbars  were  held  at  several  places  on  his  road,  which 
brought  him  into  friendly  contact  with  a  host  of  princes 
and  great  nobles  north  of  the  Tapti,  from  Patiala  to  Indor. 
The  two  great  Maratha  feudatories,  Holkar  and  Sindia, 
vied  with  each  other  in  the  splendour  of  the  welcome 
given  by  the  one  at  Bombay,  by  the  other  at  Barwai,  to 
their  viceregal  guest.  In  those  two  months  of  constant 
travel  Lord  Northbrook  laid  in  fresh  stores  of  practical 
knowledge  on  all  the  leading  questions  of  the  day. 

Foremost  among  these  was  the  question  of  taxation. 
In  a  populous  country  ruled  by  a  handful  of  strangers 
from  afar,  it  behoves  the  rulers  above  all  things  to  abstain 
from  laying  heavy  or  unwonted  burdens  on  the  subject 
millions.  The  murmurs  provoked  throughout  India  by 
the  fiscal  experiments  of  late  years,  especially  by  the  in- 
come-tax of  1870,  had  not  been  silenced  by  the  subsequent 
lowering  of  that  unpopular  impost.  Even  Lord  Mayo  s 
concession  of  larger  powers  to  the  local  governments  be- 
came, in  the  popular  fancy,  a  mere  blind  for  further  in- 
roads on  the  tax-paying  classes.  From  the  first,  however, 
Lord  Northbrook  set  himself  to  grapple  with  the  salient 
causes  of  popular  discontent.     A  careful  inquiry  into  all 


400  HISTORY    OF    INDIA. 

the  taxes  and  cesses  levied  throughout  India  issued  in 
the  collection  of  a  large  body  of  facts  and  opinions,  which 
served  to  guide  and  strengthen  the  Viceroy's  efforts  in  the 
field  of  financial  reform.  The  lessons  he  had  thus  been 
learning  emboldened  him  in  March,  1873,  to  abolish  the 
income-tax  altogether,  to  proclaim  the  early  enforcement 
of  a  road-cess  in  Bengal,  and  to  warn  the  local  govern- 
ments against  any  further  increase  of  the  local  burdens. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  same  year  the  excitement  lately 
caused,  both  in  India  and  at  home,  by  the  progresB  of 
Russian  arms  and  influence  in  Central  Asia,  was  in  some 
measure  allayed  by  the  readiness  of  the  Russian  Government 
to  acknowledge  and  respect  the  new  line  of  frontier  laid 
down  by  the  India  Office  for  Afghanistan,  as  the  limit  of 
English  influence  in  the  regions  bordering  the  Panjab. 
Later  interviews  between  Lord  Northbrook  and  a  special 
envoy  from  Kabul  have  already  issued  in  a  renewal  of  the 
friendly  assurances  exchanged  between  Lord  Mayo  and 
Sher  Ali  at  the  Ambala  Darbar.  In  the  interests  of  Indian 
trade  with  Turkistan,  Mr.  Forsyth  is  already  leading  a 
second  embassy  to  the  court  of  our  good  fiiend  Moham- 
mad Khush  Begi,  the  firmly  established  ruler  of  Kashgar, 
Khotan,  and  other  provinces  not  long  wrested  from 
Chinese  rule.  Another  mission,  headed  by  Sir  Bartle 
Frere,  set  out  from  England,  towards  the  close  of  1872, 
for  the  purpose  of  checking  the  rampant  slave-trade  along 
the  eastern  coast  of  Afi-ica,  bj'  means  of  fresh  treaties 
with  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  and  the  adjacent  chiefs.  It 
was  not  till  after  the  leader  of  the  mission  had  returned 
home  that  the  reluctant  Sultan  was  coaxed  or  frightened 
into  joining  in  the  new  crusade  against  a  traffic  which  his 
own  connivance  and  the  cunning  of  not  a  few  Indian 
traders  had  done  so  much  to  foster  and  extend. 

To  this  brief  record  of  work  done  or  doing  by  India's 
present  rulers  not  much  remains  to  add.  Lord  North- 
brook's  past  achievements  give  large  assurance  of  the  good 


LORD    5IAY0    AND    LORD    NORTHBROOK.  401 

things  yet  to  come  from  a  ruler  ^vho  has  already  stamped 
his  own  character  on  the  general  management  of  Indian 
affairs.  A  band  of  able  and  active  statesmen  are  engaged 
in  governing  the  several  pro'S'inces  of  his  broad  empire. 
The  native  princes  have  begun  to  emulate  the  example  set 
them  by  their  English  neighbom-s.  At  home  a  pai'liamen- 
tary  committee  has  for  the  last  three  years  been  steadily 
pushing  its  inquu-ies  into  eveiy  branch  of  Indian  outlay 
and  taxation  ;  inquiries  pregnant,  we  may  hope,  -nith  the 
seeds  of  future  progi'ess  in  well-doing. 

In  India  itself  the  general  outlook  is  veiT  cheering. 
The  people  at  large  are  prosperous  and  contented.  Dark 
spots  of  course  there  are  amidst  the  surrounding  bright- 
ness ;  Bengal  at  this  moment  is  threatened  with  a  wide- 
spread famine  ;  and  our  well-meant  efforts  to  govern  two 
hundred  milUons  of  Asiatics  for  their  own  good,  on  principles 
derived  from  Europe,  may  sometimes  clash  with  the  pre- 
judices, habits,  or  seeming  interests  of  the  governed.  A 
good  deal  of  mischief  may  here  and  there  be  wrought  by 
our  ignorance  or  contempt  of  native  feelings,  by  the  op- 
pression which  native  underlings  too  often  exercise  in 
their  master's  name,  by  the  rigid  rules  and  processes  of 
district  law-courts,  and  by  the  system  which  still  in  great 
measure  shuts  out  the  native  gentry  from  high  office  and 
honourable  careers  in  their  own  land.  Under  the  working 
of  om*  laws  and  revenue  system  not  a  few  estates  have 
passed  away  from  the  hands  of  their  ancient  owners  into 
those  of  men  enriched  by  trade  or  successful  usury.  In 
some  of  the  native  States  misrale  and  oppression  still  defy 
the  gentle  remonstrances  of  the  Paramount  Power ;  and 
the  Mohammadans  of  Bengal  still  nurse  their  real  or 
fancied  gi'ievances  against  a  rule  which  virtually  excluded 
fi-om  the  public  service  all  natives  who  declined  to  pass 
thi'ough  the  Government  schools. 

It  must,  however,  be  allowed  that  India  on  the  whole  is 
better  governed  and  more  Ughtly  taxed  than  it  ever  was 
2  D 


402  HISTORY    OF    INBIA. 

beforn.  Tho  returns  of  the  census  for  1872  tell  their  own 
tale  of  peaceful  progress  in  the  growing  numbers  and 
well-being  of  the  people  at  large.  In  Bengal  Sir  George 
Campbell  is  doing  his  best  to  save  the  Raynts  from  un- 
lawful exactions  at  the  hands  of  greedy  Zamindars,  and  to 
enable  his  Mohammadan  subjects  to  educate  themselves 
in  their  own  way.  The  Indian  Government  has  slept  in 
betimes  between  the  Santals  and  the  Hindu  money-lenders 
who  were  goading  them  into  a  state  of  dangerous  unrest. 
The  old  distrust  of  native  agency  in  the  higher  offices  of 
the  State  is  slowly  but  surely  giving  way.  Native  judges 
have  won  their  way  into  the  high  courts  of  more  than  one 
province  ;  native  gentlemen  sit  on  Municipal  Committees, 
on  the  bench  of  magistrates,  in  the  Legislative  CouncUs  ; 
natives  are  already  thi-onging  the  higher  ranks  of  the  Un- 
covenanted  Service  ;  and  the  doors  of  the  Covenanted 
Civil  Service  have  at  length  been  opened  to  native  candi- 
dates who  passed  the  needful  examinations  in  this  country. 
If  English  influence  has  given  new  life  to  the  iudusti-y 
and  trade  of  India  since  the  days  of  the  mutiny,  it  has 
also  been  helping  forward  the  moral  progress  of  the  people 
committed  to  our  charge.  Ever  since  the  mutiny  the  tide 
of  social  and  religious  change  has  been  rising  higher  and 
higher  against  the  strongholds  of  ancient  creeds  and 
customs.  In  Southern  India  and  among  the  rude  aborigi- 
nal races  elsewhere  the  Clu'istian  missions  have  made  an 
increasing  number  of  converts,  and  the  influence  of 
Christian  ideas  may  be  traced  in  the  gi-owth  of  that 
religious  movement  which  obeys  the  leadership  of  the 
gifted  Babu,  Keshab  Chandar  Sen.  In  many  parts  of 
India  the  natives  willingly  send  their  children  to  the  mis- 
sion schools,  and  many  a  native  gentleman  has  learned 
from  contact  with  Christian  example  to  eschew  the  grosser 
practices  of  his  own  creed.  A  spirit  of  inquiiy,  of  growing 
deference  to  modem  needs,  has  begim  to  reign  among  the 
priests  themselves  of  the  old  religion.     Reverend  Pandits 


LORD  MAYO  AND  LORD  NORTHBROOK.        403 

have  lately  discovered  that  a  Hindu  may  cross  the  seas  with- 
out losing  caste,  that  Hindu  widows  may  marry  again  without 
deadly  sin,  and  that  the  eating  of  flesh  is  not  forbidden  by 
the  Vedas.  Some  of  the  leading  Hindus  have  gone  so  far 
as  to  denounce  polygamy,  and  to  educate  their  daughters 
in  the  learning  of  the  West. 

In  many  places  the  march  of  new  ideas  has  borne  fruit 
in  the  formation  of  societies,  and  the  holding  of  public 
meetings  to  discuss  questions  of  social  and  political  re- 
form. Native  ladies  are  beginning  to  exchange  the 
privacy  of  the  Pardah  *  for  that  freer  intercourse  of  men 
and  women  which  prevails  in  Europe.  All  this,  indeed, 
may  count  for  Httle  beside  the  dense  array  of  ignorance, 
bigotry,  and  superstition,  which  still  confronts  the  observer 
at  every  turn.  But  the  new  leaven  has  begun  to  work, 
and  in  due  time  its  task  for  good  or  evil  will  surely  be  ac- 
complished. 

*  The  Pardah  is  the  screen,  or  curtain,  ^^'hich  hange  before  the  ea- 
trance  to  the  Zenana,  or  women's  apartments. 


THE  END. 


IJJJDEX. 


Abyssinian  campaign,  the,  under 
General  Napier,  3s4. 

Adam,  Mr.,  hia  policy  towards  the 
Press,  304. 

Afghanistan,  British  invasion  of, 
317,  &c. 

Agra,  capture  of,  by  the  British, 282. 

Ahmadabad  rescued  b}-  Akbar, 
111;  capture  of,  by  the  Mai-ii- 
thas,  16S). 

Ahmad  Khan  (Abdali  Afghan), 
afterwards  Ahmad  Shah,  in- 
vades India — repulsed  by  the 
Moghals,  167 ;  conquers  the  Pan- 
jab— routs  the  Marathasat  Pani- 
pat,  175. 

Ahmad  Shah  (Emperor  of  Dehli), 
blinded  and  deposed  by  Ghazi- 
ud-din,  168. 

Ahmadnagar,  e.arly  sieges  of,  113 ; 
capture  of,  by  General  Welles- 
ley,  281. 

Ajmi'r,  conquest  of,  159. 

Akbar  (Emperor),  defeats  Hemu, 
1U7  ;  conquers  Gujarat,  Bengal, 
and   Kashmir,    110-112;    death   ' 
and  character  of,  116-119.  I 

Akbar  Khan  defeated  by  General  ■ 
Sale,  324. 

Alambagh,  storming  of  the,  366. 

Ala-ud-din  (Sultan)  ascends  the 
throne  of  Dehli,  56 ;  his  con- 
quests in  the  Dakhan,  57,  Ac. ; 
his  home  policy,  59,  <S:c. 

Albuquerque,  General,  first  Por- 
tuguese Viceroy  in  India,  96  ; 
bis  supersession  and  death,  97. 

Alexander  the  Great  crosses  the 
Indus,  28  ;  defeats  Porus,  29. 

Alfred,  Prince,  his  visit  to  Cal- 
cutta— his  progress  through 
India,  392,  393. 

Aligarh,  capture  of,  by  General 
Lake,  281. 


Aliw.il,  battle  of,  332. 

Allahabad,  state  of,  during  the 
mutiny,  359;  grand  darbar  at, 
380. 

Ambela,  storming  of,  383. 

Amboyna,  massacre  at,  128. 

Ambiir,  brave  defence  of,  by  Cap- 
tain Calvert,  219. 

Amir  Khan  (the  Wahabi),  trial  of, 
394. 

Amherst  (Lord)  appointed  Go- 
vernor-General, 304  ;  his  war 
with  Burmah,  305;  his  retire- 
ment, 308. 

Andaman  Islands  (The),  murder 
of  Lord  Mayo  at,  397. 

Angria  (pirate  Lord  of  Kolaba), 
Maratha  warfare  with,  163 ;  he 
is  defeated  by  the  EngUsh,  177. 

Anwar-ud-din,  Nawab,  lays  claim 
to  Madras,  179;  his  defeat  by 
Dupleix,  ISO. 

Appa  Sahib,  his  intrigues,  de- 
thronement, and  death,  299. 

Avkot,  siege  of,  1^5. 

Ashti,  battle  of,  299. 

Asirgarh,  capture  of,  84,  281. 

Assai,  battle  of,  281. 

Assam,  conquest  of,  304, 

Argatim,  battle  of,  282. 

Auckland  (Lord),  appointed  Go- 
vernor-General— takes  part  with 
Shah  Shtija,  315;  his  foreign 
policy  and  retirement,  315-322. 

Audh,  cessions  made  to,  22G ; 
Hastings' treaty  with  tlieXawab 
of,  248 ;  annexation  of,  345 ; 
mutiny  in,  358. 

Aurangzilj,  his  invasion  of  the 
Dakhan,  132 ;  usurps  his  father's 
thi'one,  134 :  his  wars  in  the 
Dakhan  and  Korthern  India, 
140-147;  death  and  character, 
148,  ic. 


•106 


Azim,  Prince,  claims  the  Moghal 
throne — lu3  defeat  and  death, 
151. 

Babar  conquers  Kabul,  the  Panjab, 
and  Hindustan,  76,  77 ;  his 
death,  101. 

Badli  Serai,  battle  of,  361. 

Baduwal,  battle  of,  332. 

Babar,  revolts  in.  102;  revolt 
during  the  mutiny  of  1857,  370. 

Baji  Eao  (Peshwa),  his  conquests 
160-162;  his  death,  163. 

Baji  Eao  II.,  his  intrigues,  268; 
his  treaty  with  the  English, 
280. 

Balaji  Eao  (Peshwa),  168,  *c. 

Balban,  King  of  Dehli,  54. 

Balkh,  conquest  of,  but  abandoned 
by  its  conquerors,  130. 

Banaras,  insurrection  in,  248. 

Bangalor,  fall'of,  255. 

Baramahal,  conquest  of  the,  255. 

Baraset,  Mohammadan  rising  at, 
311. 

Barlow,  Sir  George,  acts  as  Vice- 
roy instead  of  Lord  Cornwallis, 
287  ;  transfer  to  Madras,  290. 

Barracks  in  India,  extensive 
building  of,  389. 

Baxar,  battle  of,  209,  210. 

Behram  Khan  (General  in  Akbar's 
army)  rules  at  Dehli,  revolts 
against  Akbar  and  is  murdered 
on  a  pilgrimage,  107,  108. 

Bengal,  early  revolts  in,  65,  70,  84 ; 
English  occupation  of,  198; 
erected  into  a  Presidency  and 
Lieutenant-Governorship,  153, 
;J48 ;  great  famine  in,  221 ;  ar- 
rival of  missionaries  in,  289 ; 
]")ermanent  settlement  of,  261. 

Bentinck  (Lord  W.)  recalled  from 
Madras,  289  ;  appointed  Go- 
vernor-General, 308  ;  history  of 
his  administration,  309,  Ac. ; 
retirement,  313. 

Be'rar  surrendered  to  Morad,  113  ; 
treaty  with  the  English,  281, 342. 

Bernadotte,  Sergeant  (future  King 
of  Sweden),  captiured  by  the 
English,  244. 

Betwah,  battle  of— defeat  of  Tia- 
tiaTopi,  371. 

Bhamo,  mission  to,  390. 

Bhartpur,  siege  of,  and  peace  with 
the  English,  284,  285;  captiu'e 


of— dethronement  of  the  Rajah, 

308. 

Bhopal,  British  alliance  with,  297. 

Bhot^in,  war  with,  383,  384. 

Bijapur,  inva.sion  of,  130-133  ;  con- 
quest of,  by  Aurangzib,  145. 

Bijigarh,  capture  of,  248. 

Black  Hole  of  Calcutta,  190 ;  fate 
of  the  English  prisoners  im- 
mtired  therein,  191. 

Brahma  Samaj.  sect  of  the,  21. 

Brydon,  Dr.,  his  adventures  in 
Kabul,  and  safe  arrival  at  Jala- 
labad, 31.5. 

Bundalkhand,  revolts  in,  102 ; 
English  victories  in,  367,  371. 

Burmah,  first  war  with,  212; 
second  war,  capture  of  R:in- 
goon — annexation  of  Pegu,  341 ; 
(British)  under  Sir  Arthur 
Phayre,  386. 

Bumes  (Sir  Alexander),  mission 
to  Kabul,  316  ;  his  murder,  319. 

Cachar,  annexation  of,  304,  .306  ; 
raids  in,  resulting  in  the  Lushai 
war,  394. 

Calcutta,  foundation  of,  152  ;  ar- 
rival of  Warren  Hastmgs  as 
president  at — transfer  of  the 
seat  of  government  to,  223. 

Calcutta  Medical  College,  institu- 
tion of  the,  304. 

Campbell  (Col.),  his  final  advance 
en  Ava,  304. 

Campbell  (Sir  Colin),  relief  and 
capture  of  Lucknow  during  the 
mutiny  by,  367,  370. 

Canals,  347  ;  and  irrigation  works. 
72,  347. 

Canning(Lord),Govemor-G  enera!, 
350 ;  measures  to  suppress  the 
mutiny  of  1857,  358 ;  his  merci- 
ful poUcy,  368;  "sanads" 
granted  by  him,  .379;  retire- 
ment, death,  and  character  of. 
380,  381. 

Camac,  Colonel,  takes  command 
of  the  English  army  against  the 
Marathas,  210  ;  defeat  of  Sindia 
by,  237. 

Camatic,  the,  invaded  by  the 
Pathans.  58  ;  and  the  Marathas, 
166;  French  invasion,  189; 
revenues  of  the,  assigned  to  the 
English,  242 ;  absorption  of  the, 
274. 


407 


Cautley  (Colonel)  constrncts  the 
engineering  works  of  Gangea 
Canal  in  India,  347. 

Cawnpore,  massacre  of  the  gar- 
rison at,  during  the  mutiny,  357  ; 
re-entered  by  the  English  on  the 
defeat  of  the  mutineers,  359 ; 
Brigadier-General  Windham's 
defence  of,  367. 

Central  Provinces  of  India,  re- 
forms of  Sir  E.  Temple  in  the, 
386. 

Champandr,  capture  of,  102. 

Chanderi,  capture  of,  100,  371. 

Chauth,  the,  a  Maracha  tax  first 
levied  by  Siv.iji.  141. 

Chilianwaia,  battle  of — defeat  of 
the  Sikhs,  337. 

Chingiz  Khan  invades  Kharizm 
and  Kabul.  54. 

Chin  Kihch  Khan  appointed  vizier 
at  Dehli — suppresses  a  revolt  in 
Gujarat — retires  to  the  Dakhan, 
158 ;  attacks  the  Marathas  near 
Bopal — surrenders  Malwa,  159, 
160 ;  suppresses  his  son's  revolt 
— ^his  death,  166. 

Chitor,  capture  of — self-devotion 
of  the  Rajput  garrison,  109. 

Chunar,  capture  of.  103  ;  English 
repulsed  from,  210. 

Civil  Service  of  India,  the,  placed 
open  to  public  competition,  348. 

Clerk  (Sir  G.),  energetic  proceed- 
ings of,  at  Labor,  320,  322. 

Clive  (Colonel),  hiS  defence  of 
Arkot,  185,  186 ;  proceeds  to 
Trichinopoly,  187  ;  retakes  Cal- 
cutta, 192;  marches  against 
Chandanagor,  which  surrenders, 
193 :  capture  of  Katwa,  195 ; 
battle  of  Plassy,  196, 197  ;  Clive 
made  Governor  of  Fort  "Wil- 
liam, 198 ;  returns  to  England, 
199  ;  Clive  (Lord  Clive)  returns 
to  India — treaty  with  the  Nawab 
of  Audh,  211;  suppresses  a  mu- 
tiny of  officers — his  reforms  in 
the  Civil  Government  of  Bengal, 
212;  returns  to  England — ill- 
treated  at  home,  214  ;  his  de- 
fence and  death,  215. 

Coote  (Sir  Eyi'e),  defeats  the 
French  at  Madras — effects  the 
relief  of  Tellor,  241 ;  retires  to 
Bengal— death  of,  244. 

Cornwallis      (Lord),      Governor- 


General  of  India,  252;  con- 
cludes a  treaty  with  the  jsizam, 
253;  marches  on  Seriugapatam 
— offers  terms  to  Tippu,  2.^6  ;  his 
administrative  reforms,  262  ;  re- 
tirement of,  266  ;  resumes  the 
Ticeroyship,  287  ;  death  of,  288. 

Dabba,  or  Haidarabad,  battle  of, 
327. 

Dahir,  Sindian  Eajah,  and  his 
queen  both  fall  in  battle,  44. 

Dakhan,  first  invasion,  <Src.,  56 ; 
second  invasion  of,  57  ;  third 
invasion,  bS ;  successive  wars 
in,  113,  130,  132;  invaded  by 
Aurangzib,  144  ;  Hosen  AU 
named  Viceroy — he  makes  peace 
with  the  Marathas,  156 ;  Chin 
Kilich  Khan  and  the  ilarathas, 
160. 

Dalhousie  (Marquis  of)  lands  in 
India,  335 ;  declares  war  with 
the  Sikhs— the  Afghans  join 
them,  336  ;  the  second  Burmese' 
War,  341,  &c. ;  annexes  Pegu, 
342;  his  administrative  genius, 
and  reforms.  346,  347 ;  cheap 
uniform  postage,  348 ;  his  able 
farewell  minutes — final  retire- 
ment and  death,  349. 

Dara,  Prince  (Dara  Sheko),  de- 
feated by  Aurangzib,  133;  cap- 
ture, trial,  and  execution  of, 
136. 

Da  lid  Khan  heads  a  revolt  in 
Bengal — his  death.  111. 

Daulat  Khan  Lodi  invites  Babar 
into  Hindustan,  76. 

Dehli  ruled  by  Kntab-ud-din,  51 ; 
the  KhUji  Dynasty  of,  56-64; 
Toghlak,  Saiyid,  and  Lodi  Dy- 
nasties, 65-79  ;  massacres  of 
Timur,  73  ;  Babar  and  his  suc- 
cessore,  99-175 ;  buildings  of 
Shah  Jahan,  132 ;  sacked  by 
Ahmad  Shah  the  Durani,  171 ; 
mutiny  in,  356  ;  siege  of,  by  the 
English,  36 1 ;  storming  of,  under 
General  Nicholson  —  the  king 
taken  prisoner  —  fate  of  the 
Dehli  princes — trial  and  sentence 
of  the  king,  362-364. 

Devikatta  (Fort),  capture  of,  181. 

Dhig,  battle  and  capture  of,  284. 

Diu,  siege  of — sufferings  of  the 
Portuguese  garrison,  95,  96, 97. 


408 


INDEX. 


Donabyu,  capture  of,  by  Sir  J. 
Cheape,  341. 

Dost  Mohammad  applies  for  Enp- 
lish  aid — Lord  Auckland's  cold 
reply,  31G,  317  ;  surrender,  318  ; 
and'liberation,  326  ;  death— civil 
war  between  his  sons,  385. 

Drake  (Hon.  Mr.),  Governor  of 
Fort  William— his  defence  of 
Calcutta — diplomacy  and  com- 
pelled flight,  I'JO. 

Dupleix,  Governor  of  Pondicherry, 
177  ;  his  brilliant  career,  179- 
184  ;  retirement,  and  subsequent 
misfortune.'^,  189. 

Dutch  and  English  fleets,  the, 
opposed  to  the  Portuguese,  97, 
198,  199. 

Dutch  fleet,  the,  appears  in  the 
Hiighli — defeated  and  captured, 
198  ;  peace  between  the  English 
and  the  Dutch,  199. 

East  India  Company,  formation  of 
the — mission  of  Captain  Haw- 
kins to  the  court  of  Akbar,  12tl  j 
erection  of  factories  at  Pipli, 
Hiighli,  and  Balasdr,  134  ; 
granted  anew  charter  by  Charles 
II. — the  seat  of  the  Company's 
rule  transferred  from  Surat  to 
Bombay,  150;  Calcutta  given 
up  to  the,  andfortified,  152,  153  ; 
become  masters  of  Bengal,  210  ; 
cession  of  Gantur  to  the,  253 ; 
mutiny  among  the  English 
officers  in  India,  269 ;  renewal 
of  the  Company's  charter,  287  ; 
the  charter  of  1833,  313  ;  and  of 
1853 — the  Court  of  Directors 
remodelled,  348 ;  the  govern- 
ment of  India  undertaken  by 
tlie  Crown,  377,  378. 

East  India  Company  (French), 
abolition  of  the,  201. 

East  India  Finance  Committee, 
the,  appointed  by  Parliament, 
401. 

Edwardes  (Lieutenant  Herbert) 
defeats  the  rebel  Mulraj,  Go- 
vernor of  Miiltan,  33ii ;  Colonel 
Edwardes  at  Peshawar,  357. 

Elgin  (Lord)  appointed  Governor- 
General  of  India — his  journey 
through  the  upper  provinces — 
his  death,  382. 

EUenborough    (Lord)    appointed 


Governor-General,  322 ;  his 
bombastic  proclamation  —  re- 
wards to  the  victors  in  the 
Kabul  campaign,  326 ;  his  re- 
call, 328. 
Ellis  (Mr.),  of  the  Patna  Factory, 
murder  of,  206. 

Farokhsi'r,  successor  to  the  Em- 
peror Jahandur,  156  ;  deposition 
and  death,  167  ;  his  concessions 
to  the  English,  176. 

Firoz  Shah,  his  expedition  into 
Sindh,  70  ;  character  as  a  ruler, 
71 ;  abdication  in  favour  of  hia 
son — his  death,  72. 

Firozshahr,  battle  of,  331. 

Forest  Department  of  India,  the, 
389. 

Forsyth  (Mr.),  his  mission  to 
Kashgar,  400. 

Francis  (Sir  Philip),  228.  229,  ic. 

Frere  (Sir  Bartle),  his  mission  to 
Zanzibar — effects  a  treaty  to 
suppress  the  slave  trade,  400. 

Ganges  river,  first  steam  voyage 
on  the,  319. 

Garakotah,  capture  of,  371.    . 

Ghazni,  capture  of,  317,  325. 

Ghiyas-ud-din  Toghlak  ascends 
the  throne  of  Dehli,  Co ;  his 
death,  6G. 

Ghorakpur,  Gurkha  invasion  of, 
295. 

Gillespie  (Colonel)  suppresses  the 
mutiny  at  Velldr,  289  ;  valour  at 
Kalanga,  and  death,  295. 

Golkonda  invaded  by  Aurangzib — 
fall  of,  132. 

Gough  (Sir  Hugh),  victories  on 
the  Satlaj,  330-333 ;  is  raised 
to  the  peerage.  333 ;  defeats  the 
Sikhs  at  ChiUanwala,  338 ;  and 
Gujarat,  339. 

Gujarat  invaded  by  Mohammad 
Kasim,  45  ;  conquest  of — cap- 
ture of  the  Rajput  queen,  56 ; 
Mozaffar  Shah's  revolt.  111 ;  his 
capture  and  death,  112:  Guja- 
rat (Panjab),  battle  of.  338. 

Gwalior,  surrender  of.  to  Sir  Hugh 
Gough,  328 ;  captiu^d  during 
the  mutiny  by  Sir  H.  Eose,  372. 

Haidar  Ali  Khan,  rise  of — de- 
thrones  the  Raj;ih  of   Maisor, 


409 


217  ;  march  upon  Madras— dic- 
tates  peace,  '219  ;  disastrous 
peace  \vith  the  Marathas,  221 ; 
invades  the  Carnatio,  239  ;  cap- 
tures Arkot — defeated  by  Coote 
at  Porto  Novo — a^ain  defeated 
at  ShoUmgarh,  241 ;  death  of, 
244. 

Haidarabad,  battle  of,  327. 

Half-batta  order,  the,  217. 

Hardinge  (Sir  Henrj')  appointed 
Governor-General,'3L'H ;  his  war 
with  the  Sikhs,  330,  4c. ;  his  re- 
tirement—raised to  the  peerage, 
333,  334. 

Harpfil,  rebel  leader  in  the  Dak- 
han,  flayed  alive,  03. 

Hastings  (Warren)  arrives  at 
Madras,  222  ;  is  made  President 
at  Calcutta — his  proceedings 
against  Mohammad  Reza  Khan 
and  Shi'tab  Kai,  223 ;  his  guar- 
rel  with  Francis,  228,  &c. ;  war 
with  the  Marathas,  236,  &c. ; 
with  Haidar  All,  241  ;  treaty 
with  the  Nawab  of  Audh,  248  ; 
retirement,  and  reception  in 
England,  249  ;  proceedings 
against  liim  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  250  ;  impeachment 
before  the  Lords,  and  triumph- 
ant acquittal — his  final  appear- 
ance before  the  Commons — his 
death,  251. 

Hastings,  Marquis  of,  directs  ex- 
peditions against  Nipal  and  the 
Pindaris,  295,  296  ;  his  policy 
towards  the  native  princes,  302. 

Havelock  (Sir  Henry)  advances  on 
Cawnpore  and  defeats  the  Nana 
Sahib,  359  ;  relieves  Lucknow, 
366. 

Heber  (Bishop)  death,  and  charac- 
ter of,  308. 

Herat,  besieged  by  the  Pereians, 
316  ;  their  repulse  by  Pottinger, 
317. 

Holkar     and    Sindia,     originally 

lieutenants  to  Baji  Rao,  159. 
Holkar,  Jeswant  Rao,  attacked 
by  Lake  at  Farokabad,  27/  ; 
peace  efJected  with,  300 ;  mad- 
ness and  death,  288. 
Holwell  (Hon.  Mr.)  succeeds 
Drake  as  Governor  of  Fort  Wil- 
ham,  190 ;  his  surrender  of 
Fort  William — imprisonment  of 


the    garrison    in    the    "  Black 
Hole,"  191,  192. 
Humiiyun,  son  of  Babar,  his  che- 
quered reign,  102,  Ac;  death, 
and  character,  106. 

Impey  (Sir  Elijah),  Chief  Justice 
of  Bengal,  229  ;  appointed  to  the 
Sadr  Dewani  Adalat,  246  ;  his 
recall,  247. 

India,  general  sketch  of,  xlvii,  i'C  ; 
its  early  history  and  civilisa- 
tion, 1-42  ;  first  Aryan  settle- 
ments in,  22,  &c. ;  Greek  inva- 
sion of,  28. 

Indian  mythology,  3,  &c. ;  reli- 
gions, 6,  7,  10,  19,  21 ;  castes, 
10,  i-c. ;  astronomy,  35  ;  arith- 
metic, medicine,  30  ;  literature, 
37  ;  architecture,  38  ;  engineer- 
ing, handicrafts,  40  ;  trade,  41 ; 
manners,  42 ;  Marriage  Act, 
397  ;  local  governments,  powers 
of,  397 ;  local  council,  376 ; 
revenues  under  the  Crown,  389. 

Indigo  riots,  the,  383. 

Indrapat,  battle  of,  64. 

Jabalpnr  Railway,  opening  of  the, 

393. 
Jahiindar  Shah,  Emperor  of  Dehli, 

156  ;  murdered  by  Farokhsir,  bis 

nephew,  who  succeeds  him,  156. 
Jahangir,  or  Selim,  accession,  121 ; 

victories,  rescue,  and  death  of, 

122-125. 
Jaipur,  capture  of,  297. 
Jalalabad,  relief  of,  323. 
Jaimpur,  revolt  in,  102. 
Jhausi,  capture  of,  371. 
Jinji,  capture  of,  147, 

Kabul,  General  Elphinstone's  de- 
fence of — treachei-y  of  the  Af- 
ghans— Elphinstone's  disastrous 
retre.atfrom,  315 ;  re-occupied  by 
the  British,  325. 

Kalanga,  capture  of,  295. 

Kalpi,  captured  by  Sir  H.  Rose, 
372. 

Kalra,  storming  of,  rout  of  the 
Sikhs,  338. 

Kananor,  fall  of,  255. 

Kandahar,  surrendered  to  the 
Moghals  by  its  Governor— re- 
captured by  the  Persians,  130. 


410 


INDEX. 


Kankan,  Mogbal  invasion  of  the, 

144  ;  pirates  of  the,  176. 
Karigaum,  gallant  defence  of.  298. 
Ka.shgar,  Mr.   Forsyth's   mission 

to,  400. 
Kashmir,  successive  inva-sions  of, 

27  ;     ruins    and    architectural 

remains  of,  39 ;   made  over   to 

Guliib  Singh,  332. 
Kattak,  conquest  of,  282. 
Katwa,  capture  of,  196. 
Keshab     Chaudar    Sen,     modem 

ilrahmist  leader  and  teacher,394. 
Kluindesh,     conquered     by     the 

Moghals,  114. 
Khelat,  capture  of,  318. 
Khilji  insurrection,  the,  320 
Khushab,  battle  of,  3ol, 
Kidd    {Capt,   William),   piratical 

adventurer  in  the  Indian  seas, 

153. 
Kirld,  battle  of,  299,  300. 
Koimbator  captured,  2.^6. 
Kols  of  Bengal,  rebellion  of  the, 

311. 
Kurg,  annexation  of,  311. 

Labor,  first  capture  of,  50 ;  Met- 
calfe's mission  to,  290  ;  the 
British  advance  on,  and  treaty 
with — Col.  Lawrence  appointed 
Resident,  332. 

Laing  (Hon.  Mr.),  financial  reforms 
of,  380. 

Lake  (G-eneral),  his  Maratha  cam- 
paigns, 282  ;  bis  failure  against 
Bhartpiir,  285. 

Lally  captures  Fort  St.  David — 
lays  siege  to  Madras — his  re- 
treat and  rout  by  Col.  Coote, 
199,  200. 

La3wari,  battle  of,  277. 

LawTence  (Major),  victor  of  Devi- 
katta,  relieves  Trichinopoly — 
suiTender  of  the  French  to  him, 
187. 

Lawrence  (Sir  Henry)  at  the  Pan- 
jab  Board  of  Administration, 
339;  his  defence  of  Lucknow, 
and  death,  365. 

Lawrence  (Sir  John),  made  Chief 
Commissioner  of  the  Panjab, 
347 ;  his  prompt  help  in  the 
great  mutiny,  357  ;  pension 
voted  to,  376  ;  made  Governor- 
General  of  India,  383;  retire- 
meat,  390. 


Laws  of  inheritance,  changes  in 
the  Indian,  396. 

"  Lord  Clive's  Fund,"  establish- 
ment of,  214. 

Loshais,  the  war  with — its  success- 
ful termination,  394. 

Lucknow  (luring  the  mutiny — 
General  Havelock  and  after- 
wards Sir  Colin  Campbell  re- 
lieve the  garrison,  366,  ic. ;  final 
capture  of  the  city,  37U. 

Macaulay  (Mr.  Thomas  Babing- 
ton)  nominated  to  the  Supreme 
Council,  3U4 ;  author  of  the 
"  Penal  Code"  for  India,  379, 
380. 

Macn.aghten  (Sir  W.),  envoy  at 
Kabul,  318;  murder  of,  by  Ak- 
bar  Khan,  319. 

Madras  first  constituted  a  presi- 
dency, 134  ;  restored  to  the 
English  by  the  "  Peace  of  Aix 
la  Chapelle,"  180  ;  officers, 
mutiny  among  the,  287 ;  its 
suppression  by  Sir  Geo.  Barlow, 
287. 

Maharajpur,  battle  of,  328. 

M:ihe',  capture  of,  238. 

Mahidpiir,  battle  of,  295. 

Mahmud  of  Ghazni,  his  invasions 
of  India,  47,  &c. 

Mahmud  Toghlak,  emperor,  his  de- 
feat by  Timur,  73. 

Mahomet,  sketch  of  his  career 
(note),  43,  44. 

Maisdr,  British  occupation  of, 
304. 

Malcolm  (Sir  John),  his  embassy 
to  Persia,  278  ;  his  second  mis- 
sion, 291 ;  appointed  Governor 
of  Bombay,  308. 

Malk.a,  fall  of,  383. 

Malaun,  capture  of,  295,  296. 

Malwa,  early  conquests  of,  53,  83, 
84 ;  bestowed  on  Bdlaji  Bao, 
165. 

Mangalor,  capture  of,  219,  244. 

Maratha  wars,  the,  219,  220,  237, 
•246,  329. 

Mayo  (Earl  of)  appointed  Gover- 
nor-(jeneral  of  India — his  State 
visit  to  Sher  All — retrenchment 
of  expenditure,  391 ;  his  Afghan 
policy — settlement  of  bounda- 
ries, 395  ;  his  foreign  policy,  and 
treatment  of  feudatories,  396 ; 


411 


his  ioumey  to  Rangoon — visit 
to  the  Andaman  Islands — his 
murder,  397. 

llperut,  mutiny  and  massacres  at, 
3bti,  and  see  Mu/in//, 

Metcalfe  (Sir  Charles)  undertakes 
a  mission  to  Lahor,  'IS'J  ;  acts  as 
Governor- General  —  frees  the 
Press — retirement  of,  315, 

Miani,  battle  of,  327. 

Minto  (Lord)  appointed  Governor- 
General,  290  ;  leading  events  of 
his  rule,  290-293. 

Mir  Kasim — massacres  English 
prisoners — escapes  into  Audh, 
208. 

Mir  Jaffir,  Nawab  of  Bengal,  197  ; 
bestows  lands  on  the  East  India 
Company,  197,  207. 

Mirza  Hakim  rebels  against 
Akbar,  111. 

Moazzim  (Bahadur  Shah)  defeats 
the  Sikhs  in  Sirhind,  155 ;  his 
death,  166. 

Mohammad  Shah,  Emperor  of 
Dehli,  157 ;  his  intrigues,  re- 
verses, and  death,  158,  Ac. 

Mohammad  Toghlak — invasion  of 
Stndh— his  death,  70. 

Mohammadans  in  India,  44. 

Moira,  Earl  of,  created  Marquis  of 
Hastings  for  his  conduct  of  the 
Nipalese  war,  296. 

Mornington,  Lord  (Marquis  Wel- 
lesley),  appointed  Governor- 
General,  270  ;  conquers  Maisdr, 
273  (see  Marquis  Wetlesley). 

Mudki,  battle  of,  330. 

Mulraj,  Rajah,  heads  a  rising  at 
Multan — besieged  and  taken  by 
the  English,  o35,  337. 

Mutiny  of  the  Bengal  Sepoys  in 
1867,  328-368  (see  also  Audh, 
Cawnpore,  Lucknow,  Dehli, 
Meerut,  and  other  scenes  of  the 
mutiny) ;  early  disaffection  of 
Bengal  regiments,  340 ;  out- 
break at  Barrackpor^ — the  cAa- 
2>dthis — mutinies  in  Audh — sup- 
pression— massacres  at  Meerut 
and  Dehli — disarmings  at  Lahor 
and  Peshawar — punishment  of 
the  Mardan  mutineers,  351-357  ; 
f riendhness  of  Dost  Mohammad, 
and  other  native  princes — the 
Rdni  of  Jhansi's  revenge — mas- 
sacre of  the  Cawnpore  garrison 


— measures  of  Lord  Canning — 
Colonel  Neil  at  Bandras  and 
Allahabad  — Havelock  defeats 
tlte  Nana — the  English  re-entei 
Cawnpore — fate  of  the  garrison, 
357-360 ;  campaign  in  Central 
India,  371,  iSic. ;  capture  of  Tan- 
tia  Topi,  376. 


Nadir  Shah,  his  invasion  of  Hin- 
dustan— victorious  entry  into 
Dehli — massacre  of  the  citizens, 
162,  163. 

Nagptir,  capture  of,  299  ;  annexa- 
tiou,  342. 

Nana  Faruawis,  reign  and  death 
of,  260,  268,  279. 

Nana  Sahib,  massacres  ordered  by, 
at  Cawnpore,  358,  360. 

Nand  Kumar,  Sir  Philip  Francis 
intrigues  with,  229 ;  trial  and 
execution  of,  229, 230. 

Napier  (General  Sir  C.)  conquers 
iSindh,  327  j  resigns  command 
of  the  Indian  army,  340. 

Napier  (Lord),  Governor  of  Mad- 
ras, stays  the  famine  in  South- 
em  India,  387,  388 ;  acts  as  suc- 
cessor to  Lord  Mayo,  398. 

Narain  Rao  murdered  by  Ragoba, 
who  claims  to  succeed  liim,  234. 

Nasir  Jang,  appointed  Viceroy  of 
the  Dakhan,  164  ;  his  campaign 
against  the  Marathas,  164;  and 
the  French,  181 ;  defeat  and 
death,  182. 

Negapatam,  capture  of,  242. 

Nicholson  (General)  anives  before 
Dehli,  362  ;  his  death,  363. 

Nipil,  expedition  against,  295 ; 
treaty  with,  296,  298. 

Northbrook  (Lord)  appointed  Go- 
vernor-General of  India,  39S  ; 
tour  of  Upper  and  Western 
India,  399 ;  abolishes  the  in- 
come-tax, 400 ;  settlement  of  the 
Afghan  frontier,  401. 

Northern  Sarkars,  ceded  to  the 
French,  1S8 ;  English  conquests 
in,  198. 

North-Western  Provinces,  new 
land  settlement  of  the,  310 ; 
famine  in,  387. 

Nur-Jahan  (Empress)  suppresses 
the  rebellion  of  Shah  Juhan, 
who  is  defeated  by  her,  124. 


412 


INDEX. 


Ochterlony  (Sir  DavW),  his  brave 
defence  of  Dehli,  '2Hi  ;  leads  the 
expedition  against  Nipal,  2U5, 
296  ;  death  of,  XOH. 

Orissa,  insurrection  of,  302  ;  great 
famine  and  loss  of  hfe  in,  387. 

Outram  {Sir  James)  effects  a  re- 
treat from  Haidarabad,  327 ; 
suppresses  the  South  Mar:ltha 
rising,  329 ;  his  Persian  cam- 
paign, 361 ;  marches  to  the  rehef 
of  Lucknow  at  the  mutiny  of 
1857 — conducts  the  storming  of 
the  Alambagh,  366. 


Palghat,  capture  of,  254. 

Paniar,  battle  of,  328. 

Panipat,  battle  of,  77,  78  ;  second 
battle,  and  fall  of  He'mu  at,  107  ; 
third  battle  of,  172. 

Panjab,  early  wars  in  the.  111  ; 
early  annexation  to  the  king- 
dom of  Dehli,  81 ;  invaded  by 
Mirza  Hakim,  111  ;  ruled  by 
Eanjit  Singh,  290,  316  ;  annexa- 
tion of,  339  ;  loyalty  of,  during 
the  mutiny  of  1857,  357  j  under 
the  administration  of  Sir  D. 
McLeod,  387. 

Pathans,  expulsion  from  Eohil- 
khand,  228. 

Patna,  massacres  of  English  pri- 
soners at — storming  of,  by  the 
English,  208. 

Pegu,  annexation  of,  341,  342  j 
British  administration  of,  342. 

Persian  War  of  1856 — capture  of 
Bushi'r  and  victory  of  Khushab 
— peace  concluded,  351. 

Persian  Gulf,  suppression  of 
pirates  in  the,  287. 

Pigot  (Lord),  imprisonment  of, 
238. 

Pindaris,  the  (robber  tribes),  sup- 
pression of,  by  the  English, 
295. 

Pitt's  India  Bill  of  1784,  250. 

Plassy,  battle  of,  196,  197. 

Pollock,  General,  marches  into 
Kabul,  through  the  Khaibar, 
324 ;  destroys  the  Great  Ba- 
zaar, 325. 

Pondicherry,  the  French  besieged 
in,  200 ;  surrender  of  the  place   ) 
several  times,  201,  238, 2C6.  j 

Portuguese,  the,  early  conquests  j 


in  India,  92,  95 ;  decline  of  their 

power,  9S. 
Portuguese  settlements  in  India, 

the,  94-98. 
Pottinger  (Eldred),  his  successful 

defence  of  Herat,  319. 
Prome,  occupation  of,  304. 
Piina,  estabUshment  of  the  Pesh- 

wa's  Court  at,  168 ;  capture  of 

city,  299. 

Eajputana,  historical  account  of, 
85  ;  great  famine  in,  391. 

Ramnagar,  battle  of,  837. 

Rangoon,  captured  by  the  Eng- 
lish, S05,  341. 

Ranjit  Singh,  aggressive  move- 
ments of — treaty  with,  289 ; 
Major  Bumes'  mission  to,  306- 
309 ;  meeting  between  Lord 
Bentinck  and  Ranjit  Singh  at 
Rupar,  306-309  ;  death  of,  318. 

Eavatwari,  settlement  in  Madras, 
tbe,  299. 

Rawal  Pindi,  the  Sikh  surrender, 
339. 

Reinhardt  CWalter),  alias  Sumru, 
massacres  English  prisoners  at 
Patna,  208. 

Roe,  Sir  Thomas,  his  embassy  to 
the  Great  Jloghal — obtains  new 
rights  for  the  Company,  127. 

Rohilkhand,  British  victories  in, 
370. 

Rose,  Sir  Hugh,  his  victorious 
marches  through  Central  India, 
371 ;  his  brilliant  strategy,  372, 
373. 

Sale  (General),  his  defence  of 
Jalalabad.  324. 

Santal  war,  the,  345,  346. 

Satara,  absorption  of,  342. 

Satti,  or  widow  burning,  practice 
of,  41 ;  prohibition  of,  309. 

Shah  Alam  (Emperor)  invades 
Bengal,  198;  bestows  the  go- 
verament  of  Bengal  on  the 
East  India  Company,  21 1 ;  in- 
stalled at  Dehli  by  the  Marathas, 
220. 

Shah  J.ihan.  Emperor  of  Dehli, 
his  wars  in  the  Dakhan,  122, 
131, 138  ;  reduces  Udaipur,  122  ; 
his  revenue  reforms,  131 ;  de- 
throned by  Aurangzib.  134. 

Shahji  Bhosia  (Manitha chieftain). 


413 


conqnests  in  the  Dakhan,  137, 
138. 

Shah  Shuja  supported  by  the 
English,  317  ;  his  death,  325. 

Shakespear  (Sir  Richmond)  res- 
cues the  English  captives  in 
Kabul,  325. 

Sher  Ali,  Amir,  wins  his  father's 
throne,  3«5. 

Sher  Singh  (Rajah)  deserts  Lieut. 
Edwaides  at  Mult.an,  336 ;  his 
flank  march  on  Labor,  338  j  his 
defeat  and  surrender.  339. 

Shir  Shah  founds  an  Afghan  Dy- 
nasty at  Dehli,  103. 

Shore  (Sir  John)  appointed  Gover- 
nor-General, 26G,  '267;  dangerous 
position  of,  at  Lucknow,  "2(j9 ; 
retirement  of,  269,  270. 

Shuja-ud-din,  drives  the  Ostend 
East  India  Company  out  of 
Bankipur,  176. 

Shuja-ud-daula  repulsed  from 
Patn.%,  209. 

Seringapatam,  sieges  of,  256,  272, 
273. 

Sikandar  Bagh,  the  slaughter  of 
rebels  at,  366. 

Sikandar  Lodi  (Emperor),  his  per- 
secution of  Hindus,  75. 

Sikri,  battle  of,  100. 

Sindh,  annexation  of,  327. 

Sindia  (Daulat  Rao),  liis  defeats 
by  Lord  Lake,  2.S2;  his  sub- 
mission to  Lord  WeUesley.  283, 

Sindia  ( Mahdaji),  his  wars  with  the 
English,  236,  ic. ;  his  support 
of  Shah  Alam,  258,  &c. 

Sindia  (son  of  Jankaji),  his  flight 
from  Gwalior  duringthe  mutiny, 
372. 

Singapore,  cession  of,  301. 

Sirhind,  Sikh  invasion  of,  155. 

Sitabaldi,  battle  of,  298. 

Sitana.  campaign  of,  382,  383, 

Sivaji  (son  of  Shahji  Bhosla),  con- 
quests in  the  Kankan — defeat 
and  murder  of  Afzul  Kh:m.  138 ; 
naval  exploits,  139 ;  sack  of  Bar- 
salor,  140 ;  crowned  at  Raigarh 
—his  death,  143. 

Slavery  abolished  in  India,  328, 

Sleeman  (Col.)  appointed  Re.sident 
at  Gwalior,  328  ;  transferred  to 
Lucknow,  344, 

"  Star  of  India,"  institution  of 
the,  381. 


Sobraon,  battle  of,  332. 

Somnath,  early  capture  and  plun- 
der of,  by  Mahmud,  49. 

Sonpat,  battle  of,  113. 

Suraj-ud-daula,  Subadarof  Beng.al 
— lays  siege  to  Calcutta,  190 ; 
defeated  at  Plassy — his  capture 
and  death,  197. 

Surat  invaded  by  the  Persians.  43 ; 
first  opened  to  English  trade, 
127 ;  constituted  a  presidency, 
134. 

Taj  Mahal,  the,  at  Agra,  53, 132. 

Talikdt,  battle  of,  rout  of  the 
Hindus.  91. 

Tanjdr  placed  under  English  rule, 
181. 

Tantia  Topi  heads  the  rebellion  in 
Central  India,  371 ;  defeated  by 
Sir  Hugh  Rose,  371 ;  capture  and 
execution  of,  375,  376. 

Thaggi  finally  suppressed  by 
Gen.  Sleeman,  309,  310. 

Tippu  Sahib  invades  Travankor, 
254  ;  defeated  at  Arikera,  255  ; 
captures  Koimbator — treats  for 
terms  with  Lord  ComwaUis, 
256  ;  defeated  at  llalavalli  by 
Gen.  Harris — his  death,  270, 
273. 

Timiir  (Tamerlane),  his  invasion 
of  Hindustan,  74  j  massacres  in 
DehU,  ic,  74. 

Todar  Mai  governs  Bengal,  117; 
settles  the  land  revenue  under 
Akbar,  117,  118. 

Toghlak  I.  (see  Ghiyas-ud-din). 

ToghlakU.(MohammadToghl.ak), 
reign  of,  ii6 ;  unsuccessful  in- 
vasion of  China,  67  ;  massacres 
ordered  at  Kanauj  —  rebuild- 
ing of  Daulatabad,  68 ;  revolts 
in  Gujarat  and  elsewhere,  69. 

Travankor  placed  imder  English 
rule,  287. 

Trichinopoly,  siege  of,  188,  A-c. ; 
siege  of  —  successes  of  the 
French,  190. 

Trincomalee,  fall  of,  242. 

Uzbeks,  revolt  of  the — suppressed 
by  Akbar,  109. 

VansAgnew  (ilr.),  murder  of,  335. 
Vellor,  mutiny  of  Sepoy  regiments 
I        at,  289. 


414 


INDEX. 


Village  communities  in  India,  10, 
2ti3. 

"Wade,  Colonel,  his  successful  ad- 
vance through  the  Khaibar,  Sill. 

Wighirs,  rising  of  the,  in  Katiawar, 
and  suppression,  384. 

Wandiwash,  gallant  defence  and 
relief  of,  24 1 . 

Wellesley  (Marquis),  Governor- 
General  of  India,  his  home 
policy,  279 ;  subdues  the  M,i- 
rathas,  283,  &c. ;  his  retirement 
and  illiberal  treatment,  278, 
279,  280. 

Wellesley  (General),  his  first  suc- 
cesses,  277  j  captures  Ahmad- 


nagar— routs  the  Mnrithaa  at 
Assai  and  Argaum,  281. 

Wild  (Colonel),  his  repulse  in  the 
Khaibar  Pa.ss,  319. 

Wheeler  (Sir  Hugh),  defence  of 
Cawnpore  against  the  Sepoy 
mutineers,  358,  360. 

Worgaom,  annulment  of  the  dis- 
graceful treaty  of,  23fi. 

Tavans  in  India,  27 ;  in  Orissa. 
89. 

Zamindari,  land  settlement  made 

permanent,  263. 
Zamindars,  rise  of  the  Bengal,  262. 


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